STOP THE PRINTERS! DITCH PAPER TO PREVENT NATIONAL SECURITY LEAKS
HEATHER MCMAHON , MICHAEL SCHELLHAMMER JANUARY 25, 2024 6 MIN READ
Our modern intelligence apparatus is being defeated by paper, a 2,000-year-old medium.
An unindicted co-conspirator in national security leaks remains at large: paper. For the U.S. government to prevent more leaks, it will have to lock up this culprit.
Between the disclosure of top secret information on the Discord gaming platform, allegedly by a Massachusetts Air National Guard member, the improper storage of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, discovery of classified documents at the residences of President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, and recent arrest of a Department of State contractor, nearly 1,000 classified pages escaped from secure facilities, causing severe national security harm and national embarrassment. The Department of Justice prosecuted a series of cases over the past two decades involving trusted insiders improperly removing classified documents from secure spaces. Our modern intelligence apparatus is being defeated by paper, a 2,000-year-old medium.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin responded to the Discord leak by directing program improvements that will reduce security risks. To complete Austin’s intent and uniformly protect sensitive information, however, the U.S. government should reduce its reliance on the paper that leakers are so fond of by taking three simple steps:
First, realize that paper is not the communications medium of the future
https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/ditch-paper/
