CCC [http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c2a8.htm]: 2491 Professional secrets - for example, those of political office holders, soldiers, physicians, and lawyers - or confidential information given under the seal of secrecy must be kept, save in exceptional cases where keeping the secret is bound to cause very grave harm to the one who confided it, to the one who received it or to a third party, and where the very grave harm can be avoided only by divulging the truth. Even if not confided under the seal of secrecy, private information prejudicial to another is not to be divulged without a grave and proportionate reason.
2512 Society has a right to information based on truth, freedom, and justice. One should practice moderation and discipline in the use of the social communications media.
 Israel appears to be planning to enter a full-scale war with Iran.
Israeli Channel 13: 'Cabinet ministers were informed that a 'very significant' attack in Iran will soon take place, and they will not be briefed in advance on its nature; Israel believes that Iran will respond forcefully to the attack'
There's another possibility I haven't seen considered: the leak came from Israel itself - an attempt by elements within their military to stop a suicidal attack by a government that's clearly gone off the rails. I posit this on the basis that Iran has made its intentions clear should they be attacked: destruction of vital Israeli civilian and military infrastructure, which they've already demonstrated they're capable of doing.
A couple of points here. It's no secret that the first line of attack would be air defence systems. That's always been the case in an aerial attack and everyone would know that. Second, Iran is under no obligation to to take the hit in order to respond. They could launch on warning, which means most of their missiles would be aloft long before their launch sites were hit.
Less likely, but also possible is that the leak came from the Israeli govt. itself. Realizing they're in a no-win situation, that would give them cover to delay or call off an attack without actually admitting it. Basically a face saving operation. Possibly related to this is the recent arrest of several spies, which seems designed for public consumption, another face saving move.
As for Russia issuing warnings, there's another element that, again, I haven't seen much mention of. Since 2017, Russia has been expanding the port in Tartus, Syria which can now support up to 16 capital ships, including KILO class submarines. Tartus and Latikia air base are by treaty Russian territory over which Syria has no authority. If I were planning the defence of Russia I think I'd be prepared to respond to Israel's so-called Samson Option by knocking out anything they launched in the direction of Russia, and perhaps at any other target as well, and those bases are in the right location to do that, being only minutes flight time away.
I'm skeptical. My take, until proven wrong, is that the leak was a deliberate act by the Anglo-Zionist Empire. Most leaks are;, it's their go-to MO. A strong speculative case can be made that Mossad leaked the document at CIA's behest. While LJ and Crooke, et al., are highly credible analysts, they have been slow to accept that the Anglo-Zionist Empire conjoins the CIA, MI6, and Mossad as a supranational Security State apparatus. The only fact that suggests the leak is indeed genuine is that the story did not originate with Seymour Hersh. Thanks for the great article, Mark.
As I said, I'm just speculating here. The speculation is based on the sense that there's more going on here than the simple leak. The fact (?) that the leak occurred *after* the supposedly scheduled Israeli strike points in that direction. The further fact (?) that some of the intel was derived from a non-US nation also suggests more complexity than a simple leak. But there are multiple possible explanations, all of which are speculative. I only presented one. Thanks.
The election is in 15 days. Biden has no business getting us in over our heads this late in his term. Really, at any time in his term. He shouldn't leave this mess for the next president, which lately is looking like Trump.
Mr. Wauck writes, "First of all, let me be clear—full disclosure. Although, in common with all FBI agents of my time—I don’t know how matters stand now—I had during my working career a Top Secret (TS) clearance, subject to the need to know. However, while I worked for over 20 years in counterintelligence, I seldom viewed material above the Secret level. Nor do I recall receiving any specialized training in classification matters, only generalized training specific to the ordinary needs of someone in my position."
I had TS, as well and my situation was a lot like yours. One change from yours. We had mandatory classification refresher courses every year. I took those very seriously. I could be a marginal worker and keep my job. Making a security mistake could affect my salary for the year. It could lead to my termination, if big enough, or prosecution, if willful.
Information is classified as confidential, secret or top secret. Unclassified is not considered a classification. If unexperienced readers find this strange, I get that. Unclassified means "not classified." Classification is based upon the damage that disclosure would cause to the USA. Secret spillage could/would cause grave harm to the nation; top secret spillage could/would cause exceptionally grave damage to the nation.
Think of classification as a building. I can go into the ground floor if have no security clearance. If I have a confidential clearance, I am admitted to the first floor, secret allows the first and second floor, top secret, the first, second and third floors. But, I can't go looking at classified information on any of the classified floors without a valid need-to-know.
After classification comes compartmentation, which is a handling restriction. This is based upon a special program we have. Let's say the USA invents a crystal ball and calls the program DIVINATION. I only am granted access to DIVINATION if my job requires information derived from the crystal ball. A defense or intelligence product could be confidential but have a DIVINATION handling restriction. Just because I have a top secret clearance, I am admitted to the first floor, but I can't walk into a room that states DIVINATION-cleared personnel only. It's kind of like one guest doesn't walk into another guest's bedroom at a hotel
Next is dissemination control. Who can receive classified or compartmented information? NOFORN means no foreign dissemination. I have to ascertain to whom information can be released.
Raw and finished products are marked with classification at the top and bottom of the page. This reflects the highest classification and any handling restriction and dissemination of any piece of the whole document. For example, a document could be unclassified, except it has a picture, for example that is top secret. The whole document reflects the top secret classification.
Sentences and/or paragraphs are portion marked. Example: TS/DIV/NOFORN USA to bomb Freedonia.
There are many nuances but hopefully this helps for the layman.
Same here held a Secret, later TS, through the FBI. What was considered secret, in my opinion was a border line joke as almost all of it was nearly open source material. The TS was slightly more interesting and allowed me into some briefings that truth be told, again seemed open source, but I did get inside. When I retired I was called and requested to respond to local FBI Office for a debrief 🤣 It consisted of be told 1) You no longer have TS 2) You still cannot disseminate anything learned and all documents received must be returned (what documents) and 3) Should you ever develop a need for your clearance again contact us and we will coordinate reissue 🤷♂️. Probably why I was not asked to be among the 51 Intelligence Officers who signed that Trump letter.
Arab Voters are very upset that Comrade Kamala Harris, the Worst Vice President in the History of the United States and a Low IQ individual, is campaigning with “dumb as a rock” War Hawk, Liz Cheney, who, like her father, the man that pushed Bush to ridiculously go to War in the Middle East, also wants to go to War with every Muslim Country known to mankind… If Kamala gets four more years, the Middle East will spend the next four decades going up in flames, and your kids will be going off to War, maybe even a Third World War, something that will never happen with President Donald J. Trump in charge. For our Country’s sake, and for your kids, Vote Trump for PEACE!
That Biden and now Harris can make Trump look like the “candidate of peace” is a truly horrible state of affairs. Let’s not kid ourselves: a vote for Trump is a vote for maybe less war. His first term was peaceful relative to the demented warmonger that followed, but that’s a very low bar. Trump didn’t start any new wars, but he continued waging them. He escalated the one in Ukraine with delivery of Javelins, stoked the embers of the one looming now by abrogating the JPCOA - aka “Iran Nuclear Deal” - and killing General Qasem Soleimani as he was brokering a peace agreement with KSA, and he launched missiles against Syria on trumped-up charges.
And any inclination he has towards peace will come-up against the will of the Deep State.
Don’t forget when he ordered troops out of Syria, the military lied to him and told them they had. It’s also been revealed they (the military) never told him the true number of troops in harms way.
Mark can you comment on the timing of the leak vs the planned attack? I read somewhere that the attack was supposed to go down Oct 15-16 but the leak happened the 18th.
Yes. This would play into my spec. If Russia contacted the US to say, don't think about that, the attack could have been called off *before* the public leak. The doc itself with its #2 would only have been drawn up after the "info/warning" was received from the foreign government (Russia saying: We know *at least* THIS much). Thus, the leak would have HAD to occur after that warning, but the action--cancellation--could have occurred before the leak. The motive for a leak after cancellation would be to let the American people know what had been going on and how closely war had been avoided.
The system of classification is ultimately designed to prevent harm/damage, as It’s Just Me said above. Common sense says that lunatics using the shield of classification deserve no such facility, and those exposing them are heroes, not traitors. There were, for example, no WMD’s in Iraq, but dingbats used the system to game the country, and should have been exposed. And there are countless such examples.
"the maximum penalty should be awarded to whomever leaked this information"
That's your idea of rewarding someone for heading off an unconstitutional venture leading to ww3? Weird that you have nothing to say about people leading America into war without a vote, much less a public debate.
Please. Whistleblower provisions are largely designed to protect the agencies. They're complex and time consuming. The history of what has happened to whistleblowers tells the story.
Were German soldiers in WW2 who took an oath also supposed to work from within? Were the plotters who tried to assassinate Hitler traitors? Work from within against genocide, taking your time? Work from within when time is of the essence to hold off a possibly nuclear WW3?
No oath is morally binding when gravely immoral actions are in play and time is of the essence. In such circumstances all options can be considered: work from within, leak, all options become prudential considerations. Adherence to oaths of that sort is a moral formalism that sacrifices substance for form.
i think they are just waiting for a q. Like the election.
CCC [http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c2a8.htm]: 2491 Professional secrets - for example, those of political office holders, soldiers, physicians, and lawyers - or confidential information given under the seal of secrecy must be kept, save in exceptional cases where keeping the secret is bound to cause very grave harm to the one who confided it, to the one who received it or to a third party, and where the very grave harm can be avoided only by divulging the truth. Even if not confided under the seal of secrecy, private information prejudicial to another is not to be divulged without a grave and proportionate reason.
2512 Society has a right to information based on truth, freedom, and justice. One should practice moderation and discipline in the use of the social communications media.
Megatron @Megatron_ron
 Israel appears to be planning to enter a full-scale war with Iran.
Israeli Channel 13: 'Cabinet ministers were informed that a 'very significant' attack in Iran will soon take place, and they will not be briefed in advance on its nature; Israel believes that Iran will respond forcefully to the attack'
There's another possibility I haven't seen considered: the leak came from Israel itself - an attempt by elements within their military to stop a suicidal attack by a government that's clearly gone off the rails. I posit this on the basis that Iran has made its intentions clear should they be attacked: destruction of vital Israeli civilian and military infrastructure, which they've already demonstrated they're capable of doing.
A couple of points here. It's no secret that the first line of attack would be air defence systems. That's always been the case in an aerial attack and everyone would know that. Second, Iran is under no obligation to to take the hit in order to respond. They could launch on warning, which means most of their missiles would be aloft long before their launch sites were hit.
Less likely, but also possible is that the leak came from the Israeli govt. itself. Realizing they're in a no-win situation, that would give them cover to delay or call off an attack without actually admitting it. Basically a face saving operation. Possibly related to this is the recent arrest of several spies, which seems designed for public consumption, another face saving move.
As for Russia issuing warnings, there's another element that, again, I haven't seen much mention of. Since 2017, Russia has been expanding the port in Tartus, Syria which can now support up to 16 capital ships, including KILO class submarines. Tartus and Latikia air base are by treaty Russian territory over which Syria has no authority. If I were planning the defence of Russia I think I'd be prepared to respond to Israel's so-called Samson Option by knocking out anything they launched in the direction of Russia, and perhaps at any other target as well, and those bases are in the right location to do that, being only minutes flight time away.
more likely, i think. not everyone can be the same level of insane.
Actually LJ did suggest the possibility of the leak coming from Israel, although he doesn't go into the possible motive.
Thanks. I must have missed that.
I'm skeptical. My take, until proven wrong, is that the leak was a deliberate act by the Anglo-Zionist Empire. Most leaks are;, it's their go-to MO. A strong speculative case can be made that Mossad leaked the document at CIA's behest. While LJ and Crooke, et al., are highly credible analysts, they have been slow to accept that the Anglo-Zionist Empire conjoins the CIA, MI6, and Mossad as a supranational Security State apparatus. The only fact that suggests the leak is indeed genuine is that the story did not originate with Seymour Hersh. Thanks for the great article, Mark.
As I said, I'm just speculating here. The speculation is based on the sense that there's more going on here than the simple leak. The fact (?) that the leak occurred *after* the supposedly scheduled Israeli strike points in that direction. The further fact (?) that some of the intel was derived from a non-US nation also suggests more complexity than a simple leak. But there are multiple possible explanations, all of which are speculative. I only presented one. Thanks.
I fully admit that there are multiple possibilities.
Let's pray that the powers that be place the welfare of mankind over profit and power. Yes, I know, one can hope.....
The election is in 15 days. Biden has no business getting us in over our heads this late in his term. Really, at any time in his term. He shouldn't leave this mess for the next president, which lately is looking like Trump.
Mr. Wauck writes, "First of all, let me be clear—full disclosure. Although, in common with all FBI agents of my time—I don’t know how matters stand now—I had during my working career a Top Secret (TS) clearance, subject to the need to know. However, while I worked for over 20 years in counterintelligence, I seldom viewed material above the Secret level. Nor do I recall receiving any specialized training in classification matters, only generalized training specific to the ordinary needs of someone in my position."
I had TS, as well and my situation was a lot like yours. One change from yours. We had mandatory classification refresher courses every year. I took those very seriously. I could be a marginal worker and keep my job. Making a security mistake could affect my salary for the year. It could lead to my termination, if big enough, or prosecution, if willful.
Information is classified as confidential, secret or top secret. Unclassified is not considered a classification. If unexperienced readers find this strange, I get that. Unclassified means "not classified." Classification is based upon the damage that disclosure would cause to the USA. Secret spillage could/would cause grave harm to the nation; top secret spillage could/would cause exceptionally grave damage to the nation.
Think of classification as a building. I can go into the ground floor if have no security clearance. If I have a confidential clearance, I am admitted to the first floor, secret allows the first and second floor, top secret, the first, second and third floors. But, I can't go looking at classified information on any of the classified floors without a valid need-to-know.
After classification comes compartmentation, which is a handling restriction. This is based upon a special program we have. Let's say the USA invents a crystal ball and calls the program DIVINATION. I only am granted access to DIVINATION if my job requires information derived from the crystal ball. A defense or intelligence product could be confidential but have a DIVINATION handling restriction. Just because I have a top secret clearance, I am admitted to the first floor, but I can't walk into a room that states DIVINATION-cleared personnel only. It's kind of like one guest doesn't walk into another guest's bedroom at a hotel
Next is dissemination control. Who can receive classified or compartmented information? NOFORN means no foreign dissemination. I have to ascertain to whom information can be released.
Raw and finished products are marked with classification at the top and bottom of the page. This reflects the highest classification and any handling restriction and dissemination of any piece of the whole document. For example, a document could be unclassified, except it has a picture, for example that is top secret. The whole document reflects the top secret classification.
Sentences and/or paragraphs are portion marked. Example: TS/DIV/NOFORN USA to bomb Freedonia.
There are many nuances but hopefully this helps for the layman.
Same here held a Secret, later TS, through the FBI. What was considered secret, in my opinion was a border line joke as almost all of it was nearly open source material. The TS was slightly more interesting and allowed me into some briefings that truth be told, again seemed open source, but I did get inside. When I retired I was called and requested to respond to local FBI Office for a debrief 🤣 It consisted of be told 1) You no longer have TS 2) You still cannot disseminate anything learned and all documents received must be returned (what documents) and 3) Should you ever develop a need for your clearance again contact us and we will coordinate reissue 🤷♂️. Probably why I was not asked to be among the 51 Intelligence Officers who signed that Trump letter.
I don't miss the burden of a clearance.
Trump Statement from Truth Social:
Arab Voters are very upset that Comrade Kamala Harris, the Worst Vice President in the History of the United States and a Low IQ individual, is campaigning with “dumb as a rock” War Hawk, Liz Cheney, who, like her father, the man that pushed Bush to ridiculously go to War in the Middle East, also wants to go to War with every Muslim Country known to mankind… If Kamala gets four more years, the Middle East will spend the next four decades going up in flames, and your kids will be going off to War, maybe even a Third World War, something that will never happen with President Donald J. Trump in charge. For our Country’s sake, and for your kids, Vote Trump for PEACE!
That Biden and now Harris can make Trump look like the “candidate of peace” is a truly horrible state of affairs. Let’s not kid ourselves: a vote for Trump is a vote for maybe less war. His first term was peaceful relative to the demented warmonger that followed, but that’s a very low bar. Trump didn’t start any new wars, but he continued waging them. He escalated the one in Ukraine with delivery of Javelins, stoked the embers of the one looming now by abrogating the JPCOA - aka “Iran Nuclear Deal” - and killing General Qasem Soleimani as he was brokering a peace agreement with KSA, and he launched missiles against Syria on trumped-up charges.
And any inclination he has towards peace will come-up against the will of the Deep State.
Don’t forget when he ordered troops out of Syria, the military lied to him and told them they had. It’s also been revealed they (the military) never told him the true number of troops in harms way.
Good discussion:
Israel v. Iran - Leaked Classified Docs & No Battle Strategy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAiqaQ79lm0
I have no "evidence" but certainly Russia is maneuvering behind the scenes. We think we are so smart with Ukraine and Israel fighting our proxy wars of neocolonialist conquest, but isn't Russia (and China) fighting their own proxy war against us? Of course they are. WWIII is on. https://www.globalresearch.ca/world-war-iii-is-on-but-the-empire-has-already-lost-an-american-civil-war-looms-spiritual-transformation-is-the-only-way-to-prevent-extinction/5868285
Bravo Mark. That is very plausible. Hopeful as well.
Mark can you comment on the timing of the leak vs the planned attack? I read somewhere that the attack was supposed to go down Oct 15-16 but the leak happened the 18th.
Yes. This would play into my spec. If Russia contacted the US to say, don't think about that, the attack could have been called off *before* the public leak. The doc itself with its #2 would only have been drawn up after the "info/warning" was received from the foreign government (Russia saying: We know *at least* THIS much). Thus, the leak would have HAD to occur after that warning, but the action--cancellation--could have occurred before the leak. The motive for a leak after cancellation would be to let the American people know what had been going on and how closely war had been avoided.
Obviously this is spec.
The system of classification is ultimately designed to prevent harm/damage, as It’s Just Me said above. Common sense says that lunatics using the shield of classification deserve no such facility, and those exposing them are heroes, not traitors. There were, for example, no WMD’s in Iraq, but dingbats used the system to game the country, and should have been exposed. And there are countless such examples.
Weird response. I guess if you were in the same position you would just sit quietly while the world descended into nuclear conflict? Such bravery.
"the maximum penalty should be awarded to whomever leaked this information"
That's your idea of rewarding someone for heading off an unconstitutional venture leading to ww3? Weird that you have nothing to say about people leading America into war without a vote, much less a public debate.
Please. Whistleblower provisions are largely designed to protect the agencies. They're complex and time consuming. The history of what has happened to whistleblowers tells the story.
Were German soldiers in WW2 who took an oath also supposed to work from within? Were the plotters who tried to assassinate Hitler traitors? Work from within against genocide, taking your time? Work from within when time is of the essence to hold off a possibly nuclear WW3?
No oath is morally binding when gravely immoral actions are in play and time is of the essence. In such circumstances all options can be considered: work from within, leak, all options become prudential considerations. Adherence to oaths of that sort is a moral formalism that sacrifices substance for form.
Is 'I took an oath and I was just following orders' a valid defense?