3 ms·
> "So here you have a non-US citizen at a foreign university doing graduate work studies, and the United States government came barreling in and not only snuffe
by r0h1n 13y ago
> "So here you have a non-US citizen at a foreign university doing graduate work studies, and the United States government came barreling in and not only snuffed out the funding and killed his studies, it also barred him from knowing what it was he had been funded to research."
Help me understand this. How could the US Govt bar Assange from knowing what he had already been researching at the University of Melbourne (funded by the NSA and DARPA apparently)?
- tankenmate 13y agoI think what they meant was the reasons the work had been funded and how that played into the larger system(s) it was intended for.
- r0h1n 13y agoThat's what I surmised too, but the language in the piece is really confusing.
- derefr 13y agoIf 1. document X becomes classified; 2. you are have a government security clearance; and 3. your government security clearance isn't high enough to be allowed to look at X, then you must not look at X, keep copies of X, etc. even if X is public knowledge. This came up more recently in the context of government employees getting in trouble for having publicly-leaked but still classified documents on their computers. I imagine, if the research you were funded to create is classified out from under you, you have to delete all public copies of it, and have to pretend you don't officially "know" it any more.
- gpvos 13y agoCan Australian citizens have a US security clearance?
- csharpminor 13y agoYes, foreign nationals are allowed to obtain basic security clearances. However, in the defense and intelligence communities classified material may also be marked "NOFORN" – no foreign nationals regardless of their security clearance.
- rdl 13y agoUsually it would be an Australian clearance and then access to NATO data. I know the rules are different for dod, leo, and IC clearances, too.
- malandrew 13y agoIt would be nice if every single government secret classified not classified as NOFORN became public very quickly (a few years at absolute most). I can understand justifications of keeping data marked NOFORN secret for many many years, but see no reason why the American people should support secrecy that lasts any longer than the amount of time it takes to achieve some political objective.
- r0h1n 13y agoThat's a plausible explanation. But this is the first time I'm hearing it in the context of Julian Assange's work. The original piece makes it literally impossible to validate because of the absence of any detail whatsoever.