WikiLeaks: How did the Pentagon lose track of 91,000 documents?

“Then they moved to expand access beyond intel specialists, allowing operational military people at least partway into the circle … to the point where fairly junior people way out in the periphery of the military-intel system now have very high level access,” says Mr. Seaquist, who is now a state representative in Washington State. Much of this is detailed in the recent Washington Post series, "Top Secret America."

At a Pentagon press conference Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke directly to this issue.

“As a general proposition, we endeavor to push sensitive battlefield information down to where it is most useful – on the front lines – where, as a practical matter, there are fewer restrictions and controls than at rear headquarters,” Secretary Gates said. “In the wake of this incident, it will be a real challenge to strike the right balance between security and providing our frontline troops the information they need.”

The nature of warfare

Military operations these days are far different than the classic, centrally coordinated military operations as recent as the Vietnam War – even though Vietnam, like Afghanistan, was seen as a counterinsurgency (COIN) venture.

Small operations – most of them unknown to the public – are occurring in many places around the world. There is considerable individual and small-unit effort, encouraged by superior officers and seen as essential at a time when the perceived enemy often acts in the same way. (For a while, the Army’s recruiting slogan was “Army of One.”)

The working climate for many in uniform these days is “more diffuse, less intensively coordinated,” says Seaquist, and this can lead to a greater potential for trouble – including the misuse of classified information for personal, ideological, or political reasons.

“Formerly shipmates and supervisors could readily see who was having a difficult emotional time, who was at risk of emotionally checking out,” he says, speaking of his days as a battleship captain.

“Short of a trial and/or a shrink’s exam, we’ll not know what drove the leaker to leak,” Seaquist observes. “But one wonders whether these new age, highly dispersed COIN ops may infer a need for people with a higher level of self-driven motivation for cooperation. Maybe these ops allow the unhappy soldier to act in ways that traditional military working climates would have tended to correct.”

At his press conference Thursday, Gates reminded everyone in uniform of their responsibility regarding information that could be harmful if made public.

“US military success over the years rests on the abilities and integrity of its men and women in uniform and our trust in them,” he said. “This trust is represented by the fact that relative to other countries’ armed forces, our military culture is one that on the battlefield places great responsibility on the shoulders of even junior service members to include entrusting them with sensitive information. The American way of war depends upon it. But to earn and maintain that trust, we must all be responsible in handling, protecting, and safeguarding our nation’s secrets.”

Related:

WikiLeaks Q&A with Daniel Ellsberg, the man behind the Pentagon Papers

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