Secrets, Leaks and Security Clearances: Reform the System Now
The latest mega-dump of government secrets underscores the continuing weaknesses in safeguarding the nation's secrets and the need for serious reform now.
In his latest piece, “Jack Teixeira and Me,” in his SpyTalk news site, fellow comrade in ink, Jeff Stein calls our attention to the federal government’s falling standards in vetting employees for Top Secret clearances. Jeff compares what he had to go through to get his clearance as a young Army officer with Jack Teixeira, the 21-year old Air National Guard reservist accused of leaking a large number of highly classified government documents online.
Highlights from Jeff’s article:
Teixeira -
was kicked out of high school in 2018 after a classmate overheard him talking about “Molotov cocktails, guns at the school, and racial threats.” He was, they say, “a gun enthusiast.”
wrote a social media post that he wanted to kill a “ton of people” because it would be “culling the weak minded.” In February, he asked a fellow gun nut “for advice about what kind of rifle would fire best from an SUV,” according to the Washington Post’s account, saying he wanted to commit a shooting in a ‘crowded urban or suburban environment.’” He was well prepared for that, investigators say, having a “virtual arsenal of weapons” stored at his places of residence.
Investigators found a veritable armory of weapons at Teixeira’s home and at his parents’ house, including assault rifles and a bazooka.
As Jeff points out, “Obviously, all the circuit breakers that should’ve prevented Teixeira from getting into the Air Force, much less anywhere near classified documents, failed to work.”
I delved into the government’s vulnerabilities in safeguarding the nation’s secrets in an article in the Washington Monthly, “Is U.S. Counterintelligence Up to the Task of Protecting America’s Secrets?” Short answer: not enough.
I, like Jeff, underwent rigorous vetting to obtain and keep Top Secret clearances during my career with the State Department and, earlier, as an intelligence analyst at the Pentagon.
When investigators went to the small village where I grew up, knocking on friends’ and neighbors’ doors, a dear family friend, Louise, misinterpreting their intentions, chased the feds from her front porch with a broom. This, naturally, gave me major agita when my mother informed me.
Working in a sensitive program at State, security monitored my travels, communications and finances.
The security folks also had a say in whom I could date and marry. I described some of what I went through regarding my Dutch girlfriend (now wife) in a blogpost:
The embassy’s Regional Security Officer informed me that she needed to be “cleared,” i.e., investigated and deemed not a security threat to the United States. “Fill out this Form SF-86 and all these other forms,” he told her. She looked at me and asked, “Is this for real?” I said, “Yes, dear. It’s only a formality.” “I’ve never dated anyone before whose employer required that I be investigated,” she replied, not pleased. The 21-page SF-86 asks such questions as:
“Have you ever knowingly engaged in activities designed to overthrow the U.S. Government by force?”“Have you ever knowingly engaged in any acts of terrorism?”
The RSO then interviewed her at length. Sheepishly and with unsteady nerves, she confessed to having demonstrated against short-range nuclear missiles in Europe when she was at the University of Leiden. The RSO gave her a pass for this crazy youthful act of anarchistic nihilism. He generously informed us that we could continue to see each other pending a background investigation of her life in the Netherlands.
Now, security investigations have a way of throwing a damper on romance. In the eyes of the foreign ladies, you go from being an eligible bachelor to radioactive waste. Fortunately, I was able to assuage and sweet-talk my foreign lady into going along with what for her was a low-level inquisition. She was “cleared” not long afterward.
Fast forward: Our Engagement. According to the regs. 3 FAM 4191, “an employee intending to marry a foreign national must provide notice 90 days prior to the marriage date.” More red tape to complete. The regs further warn, “Failure of an employee to provide the required notification/approval of cohabitation with or marriage to a foreign national may result in the initiation of an appropriate investigation, immediate suspension (which may result in a proposal for revocation) of the employee’s security clearance, and/or disciplinary action.” Pretty heady stuff. More assuaging and sweet-talking needed.
We put in all the paperwork and made arrangements to wed at a small castle in a fairytale setting in Nijmegen. The entire Dutch extended clan was invited. Everything was on track. All we needed was the actual green light from Mother State. As time drew down, we continued to wait for that green light. And waited. Finally, I got on the phone and called State. “What gives?” I asked. “It’s been months now.” I was told to wait some more. Still nothing. My mind started going off in strange directions. Was she indeed a bomb-throwing anarchist? I wondered. Maybe a card carrying member of the Gouda Workers of the World? Nope. Mother State lost our paperwork. Advance directly to Go and start anew, I was told. “But we have a whole castle lined up. Half of Brabant province has been invited.” “Sorry. No wedding without us saying it’s okay,” Mother State replied with heartfelt empathy. Desperate, I called a buddy who entered the Service with me who worked in that office. Miraculously, he made things happen. We got the green light to marry.
Now, how is it that Uncle Sam found that Jeff was a failure at selling women’s shoes, and that I was dating a foreign national, but failed to ascertain that Jack Teixeira owned a cornucopia of weaponry, including a bazooka, and was very public in his psychotic and neo-Nazi views?
Teixeira follows a string of embarrassing and damaging national security leaks: Assange. Manning, Snowden, Winner. Just think of those we don’t know about.
And every time a leak case breaks out into the open, the apparatchiks of government and media huff and puff about “reforming the system of granting clearances” and tightening up the way recruiting is done. Yet, little happens. Rest assured some incel twerp in Mom’s basement will, again, flood the internet with our nuclear codes and the White House’s laundry operations.
Vetting and recruitment need to be greatly improved. The number of those cleared to see Top Secret compartmented materials needs to be significantly reduced from the current 1.25 million. And ongoing security review of cleared personnel needs to be amped up (without becoming oppressive or illegal).
The irony of this commentary is that I, though now a private citizen, must clear it with State Department censors before sharing it with you.
The opinions and characterizations in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent official positions of the U.S. government.