Obama administration directs federal agencies to institute "insider threat" programs to stop leaks.

[Better Believe It]

U.S. tells agencies: Watch 'insiders' to prevent new WikiLeaks
Measure 'happiness,' look for 'despondence and grumpiness,' memo from administration official urges
By Michael Isikoff
National investigative correspondent
NBC News
January 5, 2011

The Obama administration is telling federal agencies to take aggressive new steps to prevent more WikiLeaks embarrassments, including instituting “insider threat” programs to ferret out disgruntled employees who might be inclined to leak classified documents, NBC News has learned.

As part of these programs, agency officials are being asked to figure out ways to “detect behavioral changes” among employees who might have access to classified documents.

A highly detailed 11-page memo prepared by U.S. intelligence officials and distributed by Jacob J. Lew, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, suggests that agencies use psychiatrists and sociologists to measure the “relative happiness” of workers or their “despondence and grumpiness” as a way to assess their trustworthiness. The memo was sent this week to senior officials at all agencies that use classified material.

The memo also suggests that agencies take new steps to identify any contacts between federal workers and members of the news media. “Are all employees required to report their contacts with the media?” the memo asks senior officials about the policies at their agencies.

“This is paranoia, not security,” said Steven Aftergood, a national security specialist for the Federation of American Scientists, who obtained a copy of the memo.

Read the full article at:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40916433/ns/us_news-wikileaks_in_security/

Click on the following link to read the 11 page government memo:

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/OMB_Wiki_memo.pdf

[theaocp]

1. Notice how these are not "issues," but rather

"embarrassments." So, instead of actually changing our behavior to gain the public's trust, we're going to try and hide our shame just a bit better. Whatever. THE.COVERUP.IS.WORSE.THAN.THE.CRIME.

Edit: Oh, and fuck you un-reccers that can't handle some truth about what's being done in your name. I recced it up to zero. Ostriches.

[Better Believe It]

2. They forgot to rubber stamp this government memo "Top Secret"!

[Lint Head]

3. So towing the corporate fascist line is now the norm.

Hmmm. Are there any other suppressive states we can think of from the past?

[Better Believe It]

4. Is the Federal Government Asking Its Agencies to Treat Employees Like Potential Spies?

Is the Federal Government Asking Its Agencies to Treat Employees Like Potential Spies?
BY E.B. Boyd
January 6, 2011

In December, experts told Fast Company that one of the things companies could do to protect themselves against WikiLeaks-style disclosures was to monitor employee sentiment. After all, one of the most likely ways an outside organization like WikiLeaks would get a hold of massive amounts of confidential information--like the hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables purportedly leaked by an Army private--would be if a disgruntled employee walked out the door with them on a thumb drive. (Private Bradley Manning reportedly used a disk disguised to look like a Lady Gaga CD.)

A new set of directives released by the federal government this week appear to be going overboard in this direction. A 14-page memo released by the Office of Management and Budget seems to suggest that departments and agencies should set up “insider threat programs,” complete with post-foreign travel debriefings and psychiatric assessments to identify potentially untrustworthy employees.

The memo is part of an assessment the White House requested in November. Government agencies and departments have until the end of January to review how well they are safeguarding confidential information “in the post-WikiLeaks environment.”

Steven Aftergood, a national security specialist for the Federation of American Scientists, told MSNBC those sections of the checklist looked more like programs used at intelligence agencies for “rooting out spies.” “This is paranoia, not security,” he said.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1714570/is-the-federal-government-asking-its-agencies-to-treat-employees-like-potential-spies