"Officials are also said to be embarrassed by revelations that the CIA spies on allies like Ukraine, South Korea, Israel and plenty more."
Should I be shocked? (As in Casablanca?) I think not. we collect information that we need. Everyone does. That is the job. Keep the POTUS informed. No surprises.
Leaking intelligence documents is simply unacceptable. Whoever the culprit(s) -- intel officer or policymaker -- at minimum should lose their clearances.
Totally agree that the "leak" is a nothing burger. Almost everything discussed was available in open source material (once the iron curtain of Western censorship is penetrated which can be done with moderate effort). Sadly, even if some of the material is new, trust is so low that no one (well except the NYT) will take it at face value and it will be deeply discounted.
Another way to look at the leaked material is that, even if completely true it shows how lazy intelligence analysts cut and paste open source material to pass up to their superiors who won't be in a position to know the difference.
There is a typo in the 2nd paragraph in the "Americans Listening" section.
"That’s a genuine worry, but a collateral upside could well be that Moscow’s counterintelligence bosses might also end up sewing so much chaos and paranoia" should read "....might also end up sowing..."
"Officials are also said to be embarrassed by revelations that the CIA spies on allies like Ukraine, South Korea, Israel and plenty more."
Should I be shocked? (As in Casablanca?) I think not. we collect information that we need. Everyone does. That is the job. Keep the POTUS informed. No surprises.
Leaking intelligence documents is simply unacceptable. Whoever the culprit(s) -- intel officer or policymaker -- at minimum should lose their clearances.
Totally agree that the "leak" is a nothing burger. Almost everything discussed was available in open source material (once the iron curtain of Western censorship is penetrated which can be done with moderate effort). Sadly, even if some of the material is new, trust is so low that no one (well except the NYT) will take it at face value and it will be deeply discounted.
Another way to look at the leaked material is that, even if completely true it shows how lazy intelligence analysts cut and paste open source material to pass up to their superiors who won't be in a position to know the difference.
There is a typo in the 2nd paragraph in the "Americans Listening" section.
"That’s a genuine worry, but a collateral upside could well be that Moscow’s counterintelligence bosses might also end up sewing so much chaos and paranoia" should read "....might also end up sowing..."
Thank you!