THE NEED TO KNOW
By Maj. Gen. Jerry R. Curry (ret'd)
CurryforAmerica.com
In the federal government, especially in the
Departments of Defense and State, it is etched in
stone that access to classified information is only
shared on a “need to know” basis. If you don’t need
the information to do your job, access to it is not
made available to you. If you do need it, it is
freely shared with you. There is no need to balance
between security and information-sharing. Security
comes first and last.
There is no intelligent reason under God’s heaven
why a Private First Class like Bradley Manning, who
obviously had no requirement for it, would ever need
access to the DOD information and the 250,000 State
Department cables that he, in his naïve arrogance,
compromised. Never before in the history of the
nation has so much unauthorized classified
information been so foolishly released.
But the problem is not just with Manning who
betrayed his nation or with Julian Assange of
WikiLeaks who enabled the betrayal. The problem is
with those who compromised an intelligence system
that has worked well and protected our country’s
secrets since before WWII. This has nothing to do
with classified information not being properly
shared prior to 9-11. It has to do with a failure to
use common sense and to follow traditional tried and
proven procedures for the protecting of classified
information. Isn’t it time to put the old rules back
in place?
Perhaps Pfc Manning has unwittingly done the nation
a service. His actions should cause us to ask just
how many others, over the years, have been copying
and releasing our nation’s classified information to
those who do not wish our country well? All sorts of
secrets concerning diplomatic relations with other
countries and the development of military weapons
systems, including advances in Weapons of Mass
Destruction, may have been compromised.
Unfortunately there is no indication that the Obama
Administration understands the urgency to
investigate the full ramifications of this failure
to protect national secrets. It seems to be just
business as usual at the White House when instead
heads should be rolling at the top levels, starting
in the offices of the Secretaries of State and
Defense. Surely after six months we should have done
more to stop future releases by WikiLeaks than
issuing press releases or writing limpid letters.
Why has the Attorney General taken so long to react
and why do both he and Obama seem bored with it all?
Don’t they realize that this is neither a game nor
some silly joke? It is a serious matter and the
lives of our military and our intelligence agents
and allies may be forfeited. Worst case, the
diplomacy of the nation may be placed in jeopardy.
From the first WikiLeaks should have been treated
like the terrorist organization enabler it is, and
Assange should have been declared a terrorist. The
Attorney General shouldn’t have hesitated to freeze
WikiLeak’s assets, pick up their personnel for
questioning, shut down their
Some would say that these are over reactions.
Whether they are will not be known until we know the
extent of the damage done. What is apparent is that
WikiLeaks is a clear and present danger to the
Some will insist that a thorough review of
classification procedures is necessary to prevent
Pfcs’ from having unlimited access to the Department
of Defense’s and State’s classified information.
Eventually that does need to be done. But right now
is the time for simple, common sense decision
making.
For decades we’ve managed to properly secure
classified information. We can fix what’s broke
without reinventing the wheel. Let’s simply go back
to, “Access is based on the need to know.”