Loose Lips Sink Ships

During the campaign, there was a discussion about the prospect of Obama's inability to pass a security clearance. So, who can be surprised when we learn that Obama's aides cannot keep their mouths shut, about a conversation which throughout history has has been understood, to be private?

What other things will these rookies leak? I shudder to think.

The amount of sensitive information that will be passed from the Bush White House to Obama's will be plentiful and, well, sensitive. And not just sensitive, seriously sensitive. Drudge thinks so too.

For those that are not familiar with security clearances, the first linked article explains it quite simply:

Confidential – Unauthorized disclosure could cause “damage to national security.”

Secret – Unauthorized disclosure could cause “serious damage to national security.”

Top Secret – Unauthorized disclosure could cause “exceptionally grave damage to national security.”

Each level of access requires a progressively more in-depth background investigation before the clearance is obtained. The President of the United States should be able to flawlessly pass the most extensive investigation and a polygraph test. Both are required for workers in some Special Access Programs classified Top Secret.

The purpose of the clearance is to determine an individual’s honesty, trustworthiness, reliability, financial responsibility, criminal activity, emotional stability, foreign influences, family associations, drug use, mental health, judicial proceedings, employment history, traits of character, and loyalty to the United States. This collective data is used to evaluate your ability and willingness to safeguard national secrets. Based on the facts about Barack Obama, he fails to satisfy the minimum requirements for even a basic secret clearance. His background investigation would have “Red Flags” shooting up in so many places; the issuing panel would deny him a clearance outright.

Some of you may already well know this. But for those that don't, let's think about this for a second.

The President-Elect's people are now thrust into the international limelight, but the situations are real, this is no game. And more than anything, this is not the place to be saying, "Look Ma, I'm a bigshot now". Many of these people are young, virile, and possess normal libidos, You can safely bet the need to look important will lead them right into situations that will be easy to compromise security, if they are not careful. This incident of compromising a simple discussion by leaking it to the Media, only validates my suspicions.

Yes, it was merely a discussion about economics, nothing sensitive and certainly nothing that damages national security. But that's not the real issue here. What happens down the road when loose lips leak other things, things that mean something very important?

The way the Obama camp has conducted itself in this situation does call into question the judgment of Obama and those that surround him. There is no more campaign, the election is over. They must now focus on a smooth transition and being a blabbermouth is not the mark of a professional "presidential" administration. Not in my book, it isn't.

President-Elect Obama needs to address this in front of the American people. Loose lips, sink ships. And in this day and age, they get buildings blown up.