4 ms·

Should I be surprised that a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, in the intelligence wing, had access to these sort of documents? Or is

Should I be surprised that a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, in the intelligence wing, had access to these sort of documents? Or is this expected? Was this part of a larger organizational failure, or just one man's betrayal?

droopyEyelids 4y ago
As someone who works in a MUCH smaller organization that deals with 'sensitive' data, it is extremely difficult to maintain the policy of least privilege. The system almost can not be maintained from the outside, because administrators don't see every individual document, and not all sensitive forms of data can be targeted by automation/scanners. This means the actual people doing the business processes with the data must take personal responsibly for keeping it properly maintained. And aside from that nebulous property of 'personal responsibility' they must also have an accurate ability to classify it. Aside from that, workers who deal with the data have a bunch of conflicting incentives, like working with people in other teams, working efficiently, and maintaining the policy of least privilege. The problems I've seen dealing with keeping information secure in a small environment make me feel like it'd actually be impossible to do at the scale of The US Government. So yeah, my money is on 'organizational failure' but also 'inherent complexity'
ABeeSea 4y ago
Apparently he was a network tech for the classified network. The real scandal here is there weren’t alarm bells ringing somewhere that a low level network tech was printing and viewing top secret documents.
elliekelly 4y ago
I do think it’s kind of odd that we, as a country, have decided people are not mentally mature enough to use alcohol or tobacco and yet we’re apparently willing to just hand these junior adults stacks and stacks of sensitive intelligence information. I’m not saying he shouldn’t be held responsible for his actions but I do think part of the blame is also on the system that allowed him access. Anyone who has been in their early 20s knows the false sense of invincibility that comes with finally being an adult. The simple fact that he did this (and apparently just to impress a chat room of teenagers? yikes!) tells me he lacked the emotional maturity to understand what was being asked/expected of him. And since the leak doesn’t appear to be malicious or “whistleblower” in nature it seems he totally and completely failed to understand the consequences of his actions.
photochemsyn 4y ago
All kinds of sensitive military operations are conducted by 21-year-olds, such as nuclear missile maintenance and readiness: > "The film starts in September 1980, when a 21-year-old missile technician named Dave Powell dropped the socket from a socket-wrench... When the socket fell, it plunged 70 feet to pierce the side of the Titan II missile. The puncture released pressurized rocket fuel and set off a chaotic series of events and decisions that highlighted a chain of command ill-prepared to deal with disaster." https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/10/14232574/command-and-controll-titan-2-damascus-arkansas-nuclear-accident-1980 https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/10/14232574/command-and-cont... Chelsea Manning was 20 years old and had full access to State Department cables and secret military video, for comparison. The military aims recruiting heavily towards teenagers, incidentally, for various reasons. Older people with more independent thinking might be even more willing to leak data about government incompetence, criminal activity, reckless stupidity and so on.
- dragonwriter 4y ago
  What I think the source of surprise with is not primarily his age as such, but that he is a relatively junior service member in a role with no obvious connection to the material. A more senior person with broad but not obviously connected scope of responsibility, or a similarly junior person with an obviously-related role, would be less surprising.

droopyEyelids 4y ago

As someone who works in a MUCH smaller organization that deals with 'sensitive' data, it is extremely difficult to maintain the policy of least privilege. The system almost can not be maintained from the outside, because administrators don't see every individual document, and not all sensitive forms of data can be targeted by automation/scanners. This means the actual people doing the business processes with the data must take personal responsibly for keeping it properly maintained. And aside from that nebulous property of 'personal responsibility' they must also have an accurate ability to classify it. Aside from that, workers who deal with the data have a bunch of conflicting incentives, like working with people in other teams, working efficiently, and maintaining the policy of least privilege. The problems I've seen dealing with keeping information secure in a small environment make me feel like it'd actually be impossible to do at the scale of The US Government. So yeah, my money is on 'organizational failure' but also 'inherent complexity'

ABeeSea 4y ago

Apparently he was a network tech for the classified network. The real scandal here is there weren’t alarm bells ringing somewhere that a low level network tech was printing and viewing top secret documents.

elliekelly 4y ago

I do think it’s kind of odd that we, as a country, have decided people are not mentally mature enough to use alcohol or tobacco and yet we’re apparently willing to just hand these junior adults stacks and stacks of sensitive intelligence information. I’m not saying he shouldn’t be held responsible for his actions but I do think part of the blame is also on the system that allowed him access. Anyone who has been in their early 20s knows the false sense of invincibility that comes with finally being an adult. The simple fact that he did this (and apparently just to impress a chat room of teenagers? yikes!) tells me he lacked the emotional maturity to understand what was being asked/expected of him. And since the leak doesn’t appear to be malicious or “whistleblower” in nature it seems he totally and completely failed to understand the consequences of his actions.

photochemsyn 4y ago

All kinds of sensitive military operations are conducted by 21-year-olds, such as nuclear missile maintenance and readiness: > "The film starts in September 1980, when a 21-year-old missile technician named Dave Powell dropped the socket from a socket-wrench... When the socket fell, it plunged 70 feet to pierce the side of the Titan II missile. The puncture released pressurized rocket fuel and set off a chaotic series of events and decisions that highlighted a chain of command ill-prepared to deal with disaster." https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/10/14232574/command-and-controll-titan-2-damascus-arkansas-nuclear-accident-1980 https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/10/14232574/command-and-cont... Chelsea Manning was 20 years old and had full access to State Department cables and secret military video, for comparison. The military aims recruiting heavily towards teenagers, incidentally, for various reasons. Older people with more independent thinking might be even more willing to leak data about government incompetence, criminal activity, reckless stupidity and so on.

dragonwriter 4y ago
What I think the source of surprise with is not primarily his age as such, but that he is a relatively junior service member in a role with no obvious connection to the material. A more senior person with broad but not obviously connected scope of responsibility, or a similarly junior person with an obviously-related role, would be less surprising.