President Obama plans to issue an executive order designed to safeguard the nation’s most important national security websites and computer networks after an Army private leaked hundreds of thousands of classified documents to Wikileaks last year.
The order concludes a seven-month government-wide review of the breach and imposes a new security system designed to protect classified information while allowing the exchange of information between all those who “reasonably” need it to do their jobs, according to a White House fact sheet previewing the order.
The fact sheet provides only vague descriptions of broad new security steps to avoid providing a roadmap for would-be hackers and leakers. For instance, each agency that uses classified information is directed to designate a senior official charged with overseeing information sharing and safeguarding; implement an insider threat detection and prevention program; and perform self assessments of compliance.
The executive order also establishes an overarching steering committee charged with ensuring that all agencies are following the new security procedures and a task force led by the attorney general and the director of national intelligence aimed at preventing leaks from a so-called “inside threat.”
The permanent, long-term procedures follow stopgap steps the Pentagon, CIA and State Department took immediately after the first Wikileaks posting last November. State stopped allowing so many members of the military to have access to its classified diplomatic cables over email, a practice that gave Pfc. Bradley Manning, the accused Wikileaks leaker, access to the classified information.
The Department of Defense also shut down access to classified material on nearly 87 percent of its computers so employees could not easily download information on jump-drives or DVDs. Only a limited number of personnel now have the ability to download and remove information on portable devices and only when it’s mission critical. There is also a system for monitoring downloading anomalies — when large swaths of information are being accessed and transferred to desktops or portable devices.
