The Office of the Director of National Intelligence disclosed 2007 guidelines used to investigate and respond to leaks of classified information, in response to a Freedom of Information request filed by government secrecy expert Steven Aftergood. The Wikileaks website published a 2002 version of the handbook a couple years ago.
The 4-page policy on unauthorized disclosures that Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, legally obtained last week was signed by then-Director Mike McConnell to replace the earlier directive issued by former Director George Tenet.
The document outlines requirements for reporting alleged unauthorized releases of intelligence that are likely to jeopardize national security interests. It covers media leaks, as well as compromised storage equipment and other data losses.
"The 2007 directive, signed by then-DNI J. Michael McConnell, seems measured and matter of fact by comparison with the 2002 directive (pdf) that it replaced, which was issued by then-DCI George J. Tenet. The Tenet directive had a lot more adjectives ("strong", "aggressive") connoting forceful opposition to leaks, as well as a bit of chest-thumping (leaks "shall not be tolerated or condoned"). For whatever reason, most of that colorful language was removed in the 2007 directive," Aftergood noted on the project's blog.
Aliya Sternstein
Aliya Sternstein reports on cybersecurity and homeland security systems for Nextgov. She has covered technology for nine years at such publications as National Journal's TechnologyDaily, Federal Computer Week and Forbes. Before joining Government Executive, she covered agriculture and derivatives trading for Congressional Quarterly. She has been a guest commentator on C-SPAN, WTOP and Federal News Radio. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
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