Sorry I made your secrets public…I forgot

Art sends us a link to Bloomberg which looked into reports that spies are having an easier time gathering intelligence on our secrets since universities are so careless with sensitive information;

The disclosure, which prompted a rebuke from a U.S. State Department official, came from a Georgia Institute of Technology course for federal employees and contractors on infrared technology used in weapons-aiming systems for aircraft, ships and tanks. Asked by instructor David Schmieder to copy the course onto a DVD, Georgia Tech’s media staff instead uploaded it to servers.

“I completely forgot the course’s access was restricted,” Media Quality Control Supervisor Edward Bailey told university investigators, according to documents obtained from Georgia Tech through a public-records request.

Oh, well, that’s OK. I forgot you were a pale, pointy-headed dickweed, too bad we sent your pasty ass to prison, isn’t it? Hardly a fate Bailey needs to worry about;

While export-control violators are subject to imprisonment or fines, the federal government rarely goes after universities. Rather than investigate violations, the government depends on universities to disclose them. Once they do, it usually lets them off with a warning.

Yeah, well, maybe if they started tossing these poor forgetful souls into a prison once in a while, it’d improve their memories. Make them think about Bradley Manning living in just his underwear most of the day. So much for voluntary disclosure, though;

Georgia Tech didn’t tell the State Department for almost six months about the Internet linking of the infrared-technology course. The university then sought to minimize the breach by citing an assurance from an Army official that much of the information had been approved for public release. When the official denied making this statement, Georgia Tech filed a corrected report acknowledging the mistake. Still, the State Department, which reproved Georgia Tech for “serious violations,” didn’t seek penalties.

Oh, I’m sure Georgia Tech is shaking in it’s collective boots over the fact that they were “reproved”. How about fining them several million bucks to make sure the point is made and lasting. And while you’re at it, take your federal money somewhere that does respect the regulations. Or we can just continue to arm our enemies with our secrets and get more troops killed.

Category: Military issues