WASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) – The top U.S. intelligence
official on Monday ordered that a new question be added to
federal employee lie-detector tests to help uncover any leaks of
secret information to the media. In true spy-agency form, the
wording of the question was not made public.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper announced he
was mandating a question related to “unauthorized disclosure of
classified information” be added to the counterintelligence
polygraph given to employees at agencies including the Central
Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, Department of
Energy, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security
Agency and others.
“It is my sincere hope that others across the government
will follow our lead,” Clapper said in a statement.
The CIA has been the only intelligence agency that asks
about unauthorized disclosures of classified information on its
basic polygraph given to employees, but the question does not
specifically ask about the recipient of the leak, an
intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.
“The question that the CIA uses is going to be adjusted to
speak specifically to members of the press, members of the
media, and that question is going to be expanded to the
counterintelligence polygraph programs across the intelligence
community,” the official said.
Intelligence agency employees take that lie-detector test
when they first join and when they renew their security
clearance every seven years.
The change will allow the new question to be used at any
time to determine whether an employee had disclosed secret
information to the media, the official said.
The wording of the question? “The specific language is not
something that we talk about,” he said.
In addition to the “counterintelligence polygraph,” spy
agency employees who have access to the most sensitive material
are required to take a much more thorough lie-detector test
often referred to as the “lifestyles polygraph.”
ATTORNEY GENERAL APPOINTS PROSECUTORS
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has appointed two federal
prosecutors to investigate suspected leaks of classified
information. Republicans, who want White House officials
investigated, had demanded an outside special counsel.
The investigations will examine the origins of media reports
about the foiling of a plot by Yemen-based al Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula to attack an airliner using a newly designed
underwear bomb and alleged cyber activities against Iran.
Clapper’s office is conducting a separate internal review
within the intelligence agencies to determine if any leaks
occurred.
Another step taken by Clapper on Monday would have the
Intelligence Community Inspector General lead independent
investigations of selected “unauthorized disclosure cases” when
the Justice Department declines to prosecute, possibly for fear
that classified information would be publicly aired.
That would allow Clapper to take administrative action
against any leak offenders, including letters of reprimand or
suspension of security clearance.
The congressional intelligence committees are developing
legislation aimed at stopping leaks of classified information.
“We’re trying to break this culture,” House intelligence
committee Chairman Mike Rogers, a Republican, said. “We are
going to have a bill, we are working on the final details.”
He told Reuters that leaks have created problems for the
United States in getting intelligence cooperation from allies.
“There are instances where cooperation has been lost,” he said
without being more specific.
“People vastly underestimate how much damage has been done
in the last probably 12 months. This may be the most serious
national security leaks over a period of time that I’ve seen in
the history of the country,” Rogers said.
(Editing by Philip Barbara)
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