Homer Simpson running national security

TheGaffer · Nov 3, 2006

I guess the administration isn't really upset about the NYT leaking sensitive classified information -- they're jealous and wanted to do a better job of it themselves! It boggles the mind.

Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.

But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.

(SNIP)

“For the U.S. to toss a match into this flammable area is very irresponsible,” said A. Bryan Siebert, a former director of classification at the federal Department of Energy, which runs the nation’s nuclear arms program. “There’s a lot of things about nuclear weapons that are secret and should remain so.”

DOH!!! Plans to build a bomb left out on the Web for all to see! DOH! DOH! DOH!!!

Even worse is the motivation as expressed by one of the chief bozos in the House of Reps.

On April 18, about a month after the first documents were made public, (Rep. Peter) Hoekstra issued a news release acknowledging “minimal risks,” but saying the site “will enable us to better understand information such as Saddam’s links to terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and violence against the Iraqi people.” He added: “It will allow us to leverage the Internet to enable a mass examination as opposed to limiting it to a few exclusive elites.”

Great. Terrific. So instead of trusting people who do this for a living in intelligence, they instead decided to get this out to load of conspiracy theorists and bloggers. Outstanding. And I love the use of the word "exclusive elites," which as far as I know really means, "People with proper security clearances." I mean, you've got to be kidding me.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/world/middleeast/03cnd-documents.html

Kate Thornton · Nov 3, 2006

This is one more reason why I am glad I retired from the intel arena when I did (2001) - there are others, but this is a good one.

So much for being an *exclusive elite* - jeeze, we even understood difficult terms like "unauthorized disclosure" and "national security crime."

blacbird · Nov 3, 2006

Doh!

caw

Mac H. · Nov 3, 2006

What is the problem? They are only posting publically information that the enemies of the USA have already.

By definition, anything they are posting is NOT secret information. Yes, there are plenty of secrets - but those aren't them.

It may be more information than the average person has - but to anyone who has the ability to make a nuclear bomb, then it would probably be old hat.

Mac

Kentuk · Nov 3, 2006

Is this supposed to be stuff that isn't already on the net? I near as I can tell building a bomb is a matter of resources not knowledge. Please don't ask me to explain how the North Koreans botched their test.

TheGaffer · Nov 4, 2006

What is the problem? They are only posting publically information that the enemies of the USA have already.

Not all of the enemies of the USA have this information. But is it not pretty damned irresponsible to put plans on building a nuke on a Web site? YOu think that's just, what, hunky-dory?

It may be more information than the average person has - but to anyone who has the ability to make a nuclear bomb, then it would probably be old hat.

Oh, yeah, of course. 88% of all people have this info already, no biggie, it's in the IKEA catalogue.

Homer Simpson running national security

TheGaffer

Docking Bay 94

Kate Thornton

Still Happy to be Here. Or Anywhere

blacbird

Mac H.

Board Visitor

Kentuk

I want to write what I want to write

TheGaffer

Docking Bay 94