W.T.F. - CIA task force

[g21-30]

Investigating WikiLeaks

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews

[Alex]

Funny. Love the humor in the name they chose for the task force.

[Too40gawlf]

Whats so WTF about that? There are a 1/4 MILLION DoS cables out there floating around. Most certainly more than a few of them have information that may threaten or jeopardize CIA assets, operations, or sources or methods.
Its pretty much routine whenever an intelligence compromise occurs for an organization to conduct a damage assessment.

Thankfully, the cables are classified no higher than the SECRET level. But one thing I damn well guarantee you is that EVERY adversary service in addition to the Taliban and AQ are going through every available cable with a fine toothed comb. This is an intelligence windfall for our adversaries, both nation state and otherwise.

[Alex]

If you read the original linked article, you'll see what is being perceived as funny, which goes along with the CIA's name of the task force. Basically, their views are being validated that the infosec capabilities of the government as a whole are pretty crappy, and those things that the CIA kept in house (which appears to be quite a bit), haven't been subject to this most recent breach.

[Too40gawlf]

Originally Posted by Alex

If you read the original linked article, you'll see what is being perceived as funny, which goes along with the CIA's name of the task force. Basically, their views are being validated that the infosec capabilities of the government as a whole are pretty crappy, and those things that the CIA kept in house (which appears to be quite a bit), haven't been subject to this most recent breach.

Got it, understood. Agree on the INFOSEC assessment, however it probably varies widely from agency to agency. Post 9/11, there has been alot of gnashing of teeth and effort to foster info sharing and the creation of the ISE - Information Sharing Environment. Many of the folks that had been around awhile realized that this was the pendulum swinging to one side in an over reaction to the events of 9/11. This Wikileaks fiasco just underscores the need for compartmentalization, ESPECIALLY when dealing with human sources. While the compromise of a technical source/asset/program can cost millions upon millions of dollars, the compromise of a human source can easily lead to the loss of lives which can have consequences reaching far beyond monetary values. While per the article, direct CIA reporting wasn't compromised, Im virtually certain that in those thousands of cables there are tangential references/reporting which can give important clues to a savvy analyst about things CIA or numerous other agencies wouldnt want adversary services piecing together.