Tuesday, November 11, 2008

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.

8 comments:

Robert said...

There are also levels to these clearances and probably a number of his staffers, as with any group of people, would not ordinarily be given a clearance and access to the information.

Security clearances take time, and at the level of Presidential staff it is a very intrusive background check and clearance process.

I have always been flummoxed at why the CIA leaks ahve been tolerated during the Bush administration, unless they were straegic, intentional leaks. I have a sneaking suspicion that these mouths are going to run far worse, and when Obama takes a military action that his peole don't like, we will know it.

Thanks for your imput at our place...hope to keep you around and active!

Anonymous said...

The time for calling into question Obama's judgment is long past; now we are simply observing behavior we anticipated before the election, and trying to figure out some way of dealing with it.

Semper Fi

Greg said...

Meanwhile, the NYT published yet more national security secrets, this time telling the enemy where our supposedly secret special forces are operating.

I'm like Robert - how come no one in intellience or elsewhere - whoever is passing these secrets to the enemy (and yes, I do mean the NYT) - is prosecuted? Is it that they don't know who the leak is, and can't put another journalist on trial to find out?

Very annoying in any case. I'm sure it will be worse under the Nowhere Man administration.

Anonymous said...

Special Instructions for Israel:

Place yourself under the nearest desk or table. With you arms, pull knees as close to the head as possible. Then, kiss your ass goodbye.

This advice is a special service of Obama Solutions, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Gangsta Enterprises, Chicago, Illinois.

A.C. McCloud said...

Bush's hands were kinda tied on the leak prosecution thing by Plamegate.

Besides, if he'd gone after people like Mary McCarthy for the secret prison stuff the left would have whined that it was more evidence of his "fascist" admin trying to stifle the "truth", etc.

But it's an interesting subject. I'm curious to see whether leaking turns from 'speaking truth to power' into 'traitor' as we go forward, which could actually turn the media against the One.

L'Amerloque said...

Hello LAS !


This whole episode (Obama’s election) smells even more:


Daily Telegraph:


/// Renegade and Renaissance Obama to replace Trailblazer and Tempo Bush in the White House


The 44th US president and his family will be referred to as Renegade, Renaissance, Radiance and Rosebud, in Secret Service code names that are anything but secret.

Last Updated: 2:14PM GMT 13 Nov 2008


President-elect Barack Obama - Renegade - had a say in choosing the code name that his guards use when they are whispering into their microphones. And in keeping with the tradition of having all family members' code names start with the same letter, future first lady Michelle Obama is Renaissance, and daughters Sasha and Malia are known as Rosebud and Radiance.


…/…


The subjects do have some say in the names they will be known by, though there is no word on why Mr Obama selected Renegade. But it seems unlikely that he was thinking about the word's origins. Renegade's earliest meanings had to do with deserting one's religion, coming from the Spanish word "renegado," originally "Christian turned Muslim." ///



http://tinyurl.com/68pvrz



Best,
L’Amerloque

Anonymous said...

Hi Amerloque

"Renegade's earliest meanings had to do with deserting one's religion, coming from the Spanish word "renegado," originally "Christian turned Muslim." ///

You have cracked the code. Go underground immediately.

We are doomed!

Anonymous said...

Rocket:

Thanks. Now I need 250 hours additional psychotherapy.