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The April 15 editorial “Top secrets were leaked by … gamers?” noted that the “integrity of the nation’s system of managing secrets is a cause for serious concern.”
The April 14 front-page article “Guard member arrested in breach” quoted Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder as saying, “No matter how tight the rules were on paper, they could be flouted by an individual determined to divulge intelligence.”
Early in my lifelong career in handling classified information, I was told that “security is like the weakest link in the chain; it’s no better [stronger] than the integrity of the weakest individual.”
As Brig. Gen. Ryder alluded, there is absolutely no system or check that can stop an individual from removing classified information from a workspace, and no amount of taking oaths, signing disclosure statements or any list of penalties that will deter a person intent on ignoring them.
Access is supposed to be on a need-to-know basis, and seniority or paygrade has nothing to do with it. An individual with information technology skills, by virtue of being assigned to system admin or tech support, has the keys to the kingdom.
An overhaul to the classification system is not the answer. At best, it would just reduce the storage problem. Needed are the reintroduction and emphasis on personal integrity and the notion of personal honesty and honor — not just in jobs that might involve access to classified or proprietary information, but in everyday life.
Robert W. Dickie, Bethesda
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