By Cliff Montgomery – Oct. 18th, 2013
Thanks to a new Pentagon directive, Congress will be informed whenever a Defense official is authorized to release classified data to a journalist.
Despite the shutdown of the federal government over the last several days, the directive was issued thanks to a stipulation in the FY2013 Intelligence Authorization Act.
“This provision is intended to ensure that the intelligence committees are made aware of authorized disclosures of national intelligence or intelligence related to national security that are made to media personnel or likely to appear in the press, so that, among other things, these authorized disclosures may be distinguished from unauthorized leaks,” declared the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time the Act was working through Congress.
A Congressional notification is required if the disclosed intelligence “is currently classified or if it is declassified for the purpose of the disclosure,” according to the directive.
The new disclosure requirement “casts a spotlight on the anomalous category of authorized disclosures of classified information, which would normally be considered a contradiction in terms,” pointed out the government watchdog Federation of American Scientists.
We at The American Spark find it fascinating that federal officials apparently have no problem allowing the release of classified information – provided it helps them achieve their political ends.
Knowing only what career politicians and social climbers want you to know is called propaganda. Perhaps that’s what political thinker Hannah Arendt meant when she declared:
“Real power begins where secrecy begins.”
We would all do well to remember that fact.
