Fischer: Security discord

The nation is currently fixated on one of the biggest leaks of classified information in recent memory.

Hundreds of documents, either transcribed or photographed, released into the wild, exposing sensitive military intelligence and national security efforts.

Assuming the various reporting and the criminal complaint in this developing case are true, this incredible leak of classified information didn’t come from a whistle blowing activist working for the public good or a hostile agent compromising national security for a nefarious end, but from a 21-year old doofus with a security clearance trying to impress some teenagers on the internet.

The scenario is a paradox of absurdity and believability.

Believable in that a kid barely old enough to drink not having enough judgment to resist sharing his privileged information with his online buddies is about the most predictable security hole ever.

Absurd in he was apparently able to search for and print out classified documents, take them home, and photograph them to be posted in a private Discord server for him and his friends for months without it ever raising a red flag. And he would have continued to get away with it except, in a delicious bit of irony, one of the members of his Discord server that he trusted not to spread the classified information he was posting betrayed that trust and shared it to their other friends on other servers.

Who could have seen that coming?

Oh wait, everybody should have seen that coming!

I mean, yes, it’s relatively common knowledge that “Top Secret” isn’t as top as one might think. Literally millions of people have some level of security clearance. It would probably not be realistic to have alarms start ringing in Langley every time some random tech support guy in Massachusetts looks up a classified document.

Still, it’s hard to believe that all it takes to get classified information on Ukrainian troop movements is to find one of those people and get them to print it out and walk out the door with it.

For as much as we worry about foreign intelligence agents, it seems wildly irresponsible that our system for keeping state secrets a secret seems so ill-prepared to account for nerds on the internet trying to win an argument.

Case in point: “War Thunder,” an online MMO that has developed a dedicated fanbase of players deeply interested in the game’s level of detail and realism.

How deeply interested? On multiple occasions users have tracked down and posted sensitive technical information about the real world tanks and planes used in the game. In one incident, a player arguing for defensive buffs to his preferred tank posted portions of the real-world vehicle’s classified user manual to make his case.

Things like this keep happening and it’s not hard to see why when you stop and think about it. If you have a group of people deeply interested in a game focused on authentic military hardware, odds are good that some of those people will have access or experience with the real thing.

From there, all it takes to get them to divulge accurate information is to tell them that something they know is wrong. They’ll take care of the rest.

I’m not saying that “War Thunder” is a trap set by foreign intelligence masterminds looking to fill some gaps in their technical assessments, but it sure seems to be primed for that kind of exploitation.

Likewise, if I were a foreign intelligence mastermind, I’d definitely keep my eye on social media for barely adult servicemen with more security clearance than common sense and make note of their gamer tags.

I can’t wait for the next “Mission: Impossible” movie where Tom Cruise gets his hands on a list of counterintelligence operatives by posing as a 14-year old and daring an IT tech to give it to him.

– Travis Fischer is a news writer for the Charles City Press and is glad he doesn’t have a security clearance because he’d probably be that online nerd using official documents to make a point.