7/12/2012 - West Side Leader
     

To the editor:

“It’s the economy, stupid” is, once again, the rightful mantra du jour of yet another presidential election cycle. I get that. What should not be politically trumpeted, however, is this sensitive smorgasbord of highly classified national security information egregiously being so widely shared publicly by this administration in Washington. Classified information is legally defined according to the level of potential damage to the national security, which could consequently occur if compromised. Grievous versus serious damage or harm is what separates information classified at the top secret and secret levels, respectively. For a duly sworn and cleared individual with need-to-know access to classified material to reveal any such information to an equally uncleared individual is a serious federal offense. Hello? It’s a crime.

To say these have been mere leaks is a misnomer; moreover, that’s a cop out, as “govvies” feeding such information to the fourth estate has traditionally been scurrilously done through conspiring clandestinely with certain favorite shills in the media. But despicably, that’s not what’s been going on here. Rather, “systematically divulged” more aptly depicts the cynical, underlying agenda of this administration’s power- hungry partisans. Literally at the expense of this country’s national security, they obviously view it more important to beat their collective chest by shockingly making public national security secrets with such reckless abandon just to ensure that the voting electorate knows full well who should get the credit (read: political points) for whatever the military and intelligence communities are accomplishing on behalf of the American people.

In order to stem the tide of these and future so-called leaks, the director of national intelligence, this nation’s top intelligence official, has called for periodic polygraphs being administered to members of the intelligence community (CIA, FBI, NSA, etc.) to perhaps act as a deterrent. Wrong targets, I say. Those who should find themselves squarely in such crosshairs reside in the two power brokerages at opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. But, alas, those at the White House and all the hill rats up at the other end of the Avenue across town are, ah, just coincidentally, legally immune from polygraphs. They’re out of reach of any such deterrent. But what no one in government is out of reach from would be an order from the president, our commander-in-chief, to name an independent counsel to ferret out the rats. As it stands now, those named to get to the bottom of it, unlike an independent counsel, are in the administration’s direct chain-of-command. With even the appearance of such an obvious conflict of interest, “That dog don’t hunt!”

Bill Fairweather, West Akron

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