http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/...contest_1.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...100700039.html

I guess I'm just looking at this from a different perspective.

If a Field Grade Officer at HQDA says that this early leak was a good thing to have happen, and that it is moving the Forces currently against the United States Government into an area that the United States Military wants them to be in, then that is just the way it is Officially, as Policy, and can be used as an official source.

Gator, I don't think the leak was good. I think that it was wrong to be honest with you. I hate leaks. I believe that leaks hurt our operations all over the world, both on the ground and in garrison.

Not sure i understand the second part of your post.

Perhaps I read your Posts wrong.

Originally Posted by Team Infidel

you guys see this as a bad thing. i don't

Originally Posted by Team Infidel

oh course not. the way i see it, you force the enemy to change the way they conduct business. they are disrupted. they no longer have means to do the business they did before.

you guys see this as a war only on the ground. consider this as taking out an entire terror cell on the ground, only this one is in cyberspace.

think multi-dimensional, asymmetric warfare.

this isn't a disaster so much for us as it is for them. their cyber structure has been crippled.

Originally Posted by Team Infidel

Sorry Chief, that is about as far as I can go. Please see my PM. I can't give you the facts you seek. Not that I won't... I just can't, and I hope you can understand that.

Chalk it under OPSEC.

ok, those are just my thoughts. I am not an official source, just a guy on a board participating in a discussion.

I don't pretend to be a super expert on intelligence or security. What 20+ years of military service in two branches of the Us military has taught me, is something that was touted during a couple of world wars ... "Loose lips sink ships". That little saying is just as true today as it was so many years ago. Now I don't "KNOW" where the leak came from ... but ... one thing I DO KNOW is this whole darn mess is another fiasco the Bush Administration doesn't need. They already have a reputation of having so many security holes that it wouldn't surprise me to find that the "REAL" leak is a member of the administration (rumors to the contrary). Whoever let the cat out of the bag, needs to answer for this intelligence violation in the worst way. What they did was tantamount to treason ... an undeclared war where Americans are dying ... a war on terrorism underway and presently active ... I could go on and on ... but ... I think you get the gist. I can understand TI's security concerns when he says he can't discuss what he knows (been there, done that, and still under a 'silence curtain' forty+ years later).

Un-imagined damage has been done ... the average person will never have the slightest idea just how bad - those of us that have served on the point of the sword (through experience), know though.
Not a pretty picture to imagine. Lose the intelligence window, and usually someone ends up paying ... usually with their life.

Hopefully this crass disclosure won't mean the deaths of any more of our comrades.

Well Chief, you were in the Navy, if it leaked out that the United States was breaking Japanese Codes during World War II, and the Japanese changed the way they did things because of the Leak, and because of that action a Ship, or an entire Battle was needlessly lost, do you think that very many people would view the Leak as a tactical victory over Japan, just one more small step in the long War?

Like you can I see this Leak as an Act of Treason.... but odds are the matter will not be taken up, because the White House will claim National Security Interests, what a joke that would be.

I hope the United States Congress at least picks this issue up and tries to get to the bottom of things.

Originally Posted by Team Infidel

young leaders for me = young Lieutenants and Captains as well as young NCO's.. They are the next generation that will get us out of the leadership blackhole we are currently in. They get to see what NOT to do. but we digress from the specific topic. We can take it to another thread if you wish.

No TI, that's fine for me. I take your point, and i have no further issue to raise.

Originally Posted by Gator

Well Chief, you were in the Navy, if it leaked out that the United States was breaking Japanese Codes during World War II, and the Japanese changed the way they did things because of the Leak, and because of that action a Ship, or an entire Battle was needlessly lost, do you think that very many people would view the Leak as a tactical victory over Japan, just one more small step in the long War?

Like you can I see this Leak as an Act of Treason.... but odds are the matter will not be taken up, because the White House will claim National Security Interests, what a joke that would be.

I hope the United States Congress at least picks this issue up and tries to get to the bottom of things.

Keep in mind, I don't like GW Bush (I've never made any bones about it) ... as a matter of fact, I didn't like Bush Sr either ... the decisions they made in my name and the policies that were put into place in my name, don't/didn't sit well with me. That doesn't mean that ALL of their decisions/policies fall into that category ... it just means that the majority of them do/did. When it comes to security and intelligence areas, I try to be as non-partisan and even-handed as I can ... but ... you must also realise that a little bias can't help but enter my opinion/comments.

Like you, I hope someone is actually held accountable ... but ... 6/2/even, I will make you a bet that we end up with another 'Valerie Plame' fiasco where NOBODY pays for an intelligence FUBAR (whether she was an active agent or not).

This Whitehouse and administration are way too quick to play the 'National Security' excuse when they are put on the spot. I really hope that the leak DIDN'T come from the Whitehouse ... I'd hate to think there were blabbermouths that were that close to the Presidency (How about you?).

As far as Congress taking up this matter, you have got to be joking ... they are nothing but gutless wonders (they can't even come up with enough gumption between them to figure out how to bring out troops home over GW's wishes). The ONLY thing they are good at, is spending money the government doesn't have, thus the National Debt keeps climbing.

I don't hold out any hope that 'firing squad justice' will prevai, even though it is time that it did.

Information leak IS treason.
It's the same as being a spy.
Which is why strict restrictions should also be placed on what the press can and cannot report on military or intelligence matters.
But like hell that's gonna happen.