[Air-L] wikileaks and "Classified" status

[nativebuddha]

thank you. very helpful.

-robert




On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 10:45 AM, Thomas Jones <thomasallenjones at gmail.com>wrote:

> I have a security clearance (10 years now) and work with classified
> information. This is a pretty intricate issue.
>
> It is illegal to obtain classified information which you are not authorized
> to view. It is illegal to distribute (remove) classified information from
> classified networks (without authorization) and give to people without
> clearances, or to put it on an unclassified network.
>
> A Classified Message Incident (CMI) results from posing classified
> information from SIPRNET (Secret network) or JWICS (Top Secret network) on
> NIPRNET (Unclassified network) - "spillage". A CMI can result in immediate
> revocation of clearance, and pending on its severity, can land you in jail
> just as quick. There is a matrix to determine the severity of the CMI
> dependent on multiple attributes which I do not believe I can discuss in
> this forum.
>
> It is not illegal to publish classified information once it is in the
> public domain - reference the Pentagon papers. However the brazen young
> intelligence soldier who took the information is in some deep trouble. Also,
> read this link posted by the EFF that directly answers your question more
> technically: http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2010/09/public_class.html
>
> Given that the information on the wikileaks site is still classified by the
> US Government, administratively (and technically), it is still illegal to
> view it. But this is really only cosmetic in nature - once classified
> information is made public, the logic and reasoning behind it being
> classified is no longer valid, and quite honestly, rather arbitrary. Whether
> you want to go look at it... thats your call really. However the practical
> enforcement of the Government to locate and prosecute those who do... you'd
> have a better chance of winning the lottery. This is how they still prevent
> current government (military) employees from accessing/reading those
> documents as stupid as this sounds. Wired's Danger Room article sums it up
> quite nicely:
> http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/08/pentagon-to-troops-taliban-can-read-wikileaks-you-cant/
>
> "That cry you hear? It's common sense writhing in pain." Indeed it is...
>
> --
> Thomas Jones
> http://www.TheOtherTomJones.com <http://www.theothertomjones.com/>
>  http://twitter.com/OtherTomJones
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/TheOtherTomJones
>
>  One should guard against preaching to young people success in the
> customary form as the main aim in life. The most important motive for work
> in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result, and the
> knowledge of the value of the result to the community.
> -- Albert Einstein, On Education --
>
>
> Sent with Sparrow <http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/>
>
> On Wednesday, December 1, 2010 at 10:22 AM, nativebuddha wrote:
>
>    Does anyone know the law on "Classified " docs and entering the public
> domain?
>
> Do they retain the "Classified" status, even though millions of people can
> read them? I know that military officials without clearance are being told
> that they can't read the "Classified" docs. Isn't odd that they can't an
> yet
> everyone else can?
>
> -robert
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