"Your secrets are not as secret as you think, comrade."
Posted on 01/01/2023 8:19:50 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
I spent 40 years as a scientist in a federal agency and was one of the few staffers at the facility to possess a security clearance. My clearance level was such that it caused the bosses intense heartburn when they had to pay for the periodic full field recertifications (probably why there were only a handful of cleared staffers on the site).
In my work, I occasionally handled and developed classified content and knowledge. Some was critical sensitive, some secret or top secret, some ITAR (google it), and some with another administrative restriction. I developed data that was immediately applied in defense or intelligence, and I participated in meetings that were heavily guarded. I also testified under seal in federal court and before federal grand juries, and I prepared expert reports for the FBI.
Once, I was huddled outside around a Walmart pay phone in an ugly snowstorm with several federal agents, asking HQ for advice because we thought the room we were using (in an undisclosed location) was “compromised.” On another occasion, in a closed meeting of cleared staff, the lead asked if anyone had been “recruited,” meaning approached by a foreign agent. One or two folks raised their hands, and I remember feeling miffed that I was never waylaid by Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale! Google them if you have to.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.
I get the feeling that you would NOT have worked for BIDEN
From my experience, this is exactly correct.
Her measurements are classified information.
Second that fact - I’ve even seen stories from various newspapers cut out an tacked to cork bulletin boars stamped TS Code Word.
Yup
When you classify newtons equations somethings wrong
"Your secrets are not as secret as you think, comrade."
Agreed. And my experience was 30 years ago.
That’s some great OPSEC there, Bruno.
Hey, everybody! I know a lot of highly classified information.
It doesn’t matter that you’re retired. Remember that non-disclosure agreement you signed when you retired?
Good points here but the story does sound suspicious. I held a security clearance years ago. If uncleared contractors had to come into the room, we had to cover everything up.
As far as I know, classified information did not leave the work site.
What classified information did he share, Poindexter?
None, but you don’t go around telling the world you have a security clearance. It makes you an easy target for Fang Fang.
So criticism of classified information rules that are idiotic ist verboten?
The real issue here is that government uses “classified” to conceal crimes committed by government.
14,000 hours of January 6th surveillance video, but we can’t see it because “national security.”
Hundreds of hours of Unselect Committee video testimony, but we can’t see it because it’s “classified” for fifty years.
Years ago, I was read in to something that was TS/SCI. When I saw it, I looked up and asked, “Who in the HELL doesn’t know this?”
The reply?
“Now you KNOW it. Before, you THOUGHT you knew it!”
Yeah, right...and I spent a day of travel time getting to the place where I could “KNOW” it!
Yes, using classification as a shield for covering up bad politics should be criminal, and yes, it happens all the time. There are classification guidelines that are violated all the time and and probably half of things that are classified shouldn’t be. It’s the better safe than sorry attitude. It’s easy to reach for the stamp.
I don’t know if Thomas Bruno was a pseudonym or not, but if it isn’t it should have been. If it was then that’s good OPSEC and good citizenship for exposing classification abuse.
Lots of us knew a lot of classified information. So what? In most cases, there is nothing classified about being someone who does or did know classified information. It is a pre-requisite for a lot of jobs.
And as he pointed out, a lot of classified information has been classified for years without any justification.
Remember that non-disclosure agreement you signed when you retired?
Also, remember any NDA you signed while working for a corporation or someone else.
Last but not least if you worked as a self employed consultant, any DNA’s you signed with those, who hired you are probably still valid.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.