Former Intelligence Officials Break Clapper's Media Gag Order To Complain About Clapper's Media Gag Order

from the security-through-obtusity dept

James Clapper's order forbidding both current and former employees from discussing almost anything with the media has raised more questions than it's answered. It appears to have been written as a response to the Snowden leaks (as well as various unnamed officials' responses to those leaks), but its restrictiveness does nothing to prevent document leaking and has created a whole lot of confusion.

To begin with, the very definition of media/press is impossible to pin down. According to the original order, anything from major networks to officials' own social media accounts were off limits. A clarification issued shortly thereafter offered nearly nothing in the way of clearing things up.

Now, former officials -- the same ones who have been forbidden from discussing almost everything without prior approval -- are offering up plenty of discussion on the policy itself, assuredly without prior approval. Shane Harris at Foreign Policy has collected a great deal of irritated statements from former intelligence officials who have a ton of problems with Clapper's gag order.

One former intelligence official who now works in the private sector said he declined five recent requests to discuss national security issues on television news shows because he was afraid of having his security clearance revoked or being fined for breaking the rules. Ironically, the former official said, he only learned about new restrictions on talking to the press from Gen. Keith Alexander, the former director of the National Security Agency, when he discussed it with comedian John Oliver for his new HBO talk show.
Much like many legislators and government officials learned of the NSA's activities from outside sources, former officials are learning more about a policy affecting their press interactions from other former officials interacting with the press.

Meanwhile, Clapper's office claims this policy has always been in place, despite the reactions that clearly indicate otherwise. It also should be noted that this "there all along" policy hasn't prevented various unnamed intelligence officials -- some of them still currently employed -- from offering their opinions on the NSA's programs over the past several months.

It also hasn't prevented former NSA head Michael Hayden from acting as the agency's biggest cheerleader, apparently appearing at any press venue that will have him.
Several sources cited Michael Hayden, the former director of the NSA and the CIA, as a prime example. Hayden writes a regular column for the Washington Times. Does that mean Hayden is now a journalist, some former officials asked? If so, are they prohibited from talking to him, too?
(The same question could be asked of Stewart Baker, the former NSA counsel who has written pieces for several venues, including regular appearances at the Volokh Conspiracy blog, now hosted by the Washington Post.)

Spokespeople for the agency claim Hayden runs everything by the agency first, but if that's true (something that seems unlikely given the number of appearances, including a live debate with NSA critics), that makes him the minority. Other former officials claim that if Clapper's going to pretend this policy isn't new, they'll just continue to route around his office, just as they did before the supposedly "not new" policy went into force.
The former intelligence official who said he first learned of the policy by watching HBO said he's reluctant to call Clapper's office because he thinks it'll only invite more scrutiny. Another said that until he hears otherwise, he will continue to clear articles through his former agency, not the ODNI. And, he predicted, his colleagues will do the same.
The policy, which "isn't new" but still comes as a surprise to many former officials, is typical of the NSA's responses over the past several months -- long on indignant righteous fury and short on substance. That this supposedly pre-existing policy needed both a clarification and a declaration that nothing has ever changed is also indicative of the agency's clumsy attempts to embrace transparency place one tentative arm a few inches above transparency's shoulder: needlessly convoluted and ultimately useless.

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Filed Under: gag order, intelligence community, james clapper, reporting


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  • icon
    Nigel (profile), 11 Jun 2014 @ 5:00pm

    History

    Is not going to treat this fellow well. If the fucking media could pull its head out of its ass for second "it" would realize the dude is a lying sack of shit.

    N.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Jun 2014 @ 5:20pm

    They are very much afraid. This is the reason for all the inability to tell the truth on what they have a choice on. This is the reason why whistle blowers are being treated the way they are. Only by secrecy can this crap continue and many have had enough, more will follow.

    What happens when the entire spy network has had enough? They can't arrest them all. Doing so would eviscerate their operations. Not everyone knows the all the ingredients to the 'secret sauce' but enough know a bit and piece here and there the picture could be assembled without inner access.

    One Snowden is driving them mad dog, paranoid crazy. A thousand would bury them or bring out the troops.

    The public discontent grows stronger by the day. This isn't going to end well.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Jun 2014 @ 6:13pm

    It's already headed for the compost pile. And, according to Snowden, the best is yet to come. Should be fun!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Jun 2014 @ 6:41pm

    That explains a lot about Hayden and Baker. Since they are now both journalists, they are prohibited from speaking to themselves. If you had to comply with an order like that, you'd go crazy too. Especially Hayden, since he's admitted that "everyone is a journalist" he's really fucked. No wonder they babble on and on incoherently.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 11 Jun 2014 @ 7:01pm

    Lies

    They are so screwed up they have to lie about their own rules about lying. Sheesh!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 12 Jun 2014 @ 4:09am

    if Clapper wants to get everything 'cleared' first, then he's afraid there will be even more information let loose on the public! if the agency wasn't up to naughty stuff all the time, there wouldn't be any problems, would there!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 12 Jun 2014 @ 9:30am

    agency's clumsy attempts to place one tentative arm a few inches above transparency's shoulder


    Actually the agency is naked and has both hands on transparency's shoulders.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 12 Jun 2014 @ 11:01am

    Abc agencies, created outside the scope of "government" bypasing accountability, circumventing restriction upon said "government"

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Zonker, 12 Jun 2014 @ 2:29pm

    The current administration apparently believes that transparency means that you can't see what they are doing. Transparency makes them invisible, just like the Emperor's clothes.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    askeptic, 12 Jun 2014 @ 6:07pm

    Clapper, et al

    Please try to remember that the United States does NOT have an Official Secrets Act!, and does have a First Amendment!

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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