This article was recently published and it needs discussing.
Would watching live congressional hearings being broadcast with classified information be “reading classified information” or “staying informed about the behaviors of public servants”? Does “remaining above the fray” mean clearance holders need to remain ignorant to the behaviors of elected and non elected officials?
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I respectfully disagree with Lindy Kyzer on this. Security clearance holders are under no obligation, legal or moral, to remain willfully ignorant about the “Signalgate” affair.
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When official documents are leaked that are marked classified then you may run into trouble if you print them out. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with reading about these signal chats, especially since the powers that be insist they’re not classified.
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Indeed, as I recall, in previous instances where employees were directed not to access classified documents that had been made public, the key concern was the likelihood that classified documents would end up being transferred to computer systems that were not rated for storage of classified information, and that this would cause trouble with auditing of those systems.
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Lol that article is ridiculous
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Technically, cleared workers are not allowed to view any classified info they are not authorized to view. This is part of the agreement you signed. It’s in your annual training. They drill it into you over and over. “Just because it’s been leaked, doesn’t mean it’s declassified.”
Realistically, it’s next to impossible to completely avoid stuff like this without crawling into a dark cave for weeks at a time. You Just have to be practical about what to report. Collateral or incidental viewing should not be an issue. But you go out of your way to read the full contents, then you are knowingly and willfully violating the terms of your clearance.
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The better question here is: is the Signal chat classified? The administration has gone out of their way to demonstrate they don’t think anything in the chat was classified. Can the president declassify just by stating “that isn’t classified?” He has said he can do that. Congress says no. BUT, if the president, as the ultimate classifier, says he can, can he?
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You can’t knowingly and willfully violate something without knowing the contents of unmarked words. Reading /viewing/listening it is the only way to judge . Illiterate people are the only one’s who can avoid stuff like this and the term “practical reporting” has an enormous spectrum of definitions.
Agreed. If we are expected to carry out the policies of our government we need to be aware of these policies and how they align with our constitutional obligations. Ignorance is blind bliss but it can lead to very bad things.