Following a review of the leak of hundreds of classified documents earlier this year on a social media platform popular with gamers, the US Department of Defense does not see a need to redo its security protocols from the ground up, although it does consider reinforce them.
The results of the 45-day review, released Wednesday, call for a series of measures aimed at strengthening existing security measures and improving communication so that officials in charge of facilities take all necessary security precautions.
“This review found that the vast majority of Department of Defense personnel with access to Classified National Security Information (CNSI) are trustworthy and that all components of the Department of Defense demonstrate a broad commitment to security,” the Secretary of Defense wrote. Defence, Lloyd Austin, in a memo dated June 30.
But Austin conceded that the review “identified areas where we can and should improve accountability.”
Officials at the Pentagon, as the headquarters of the US Defense Ministry is popularly called, announced the review in April after the Jack Teixeira’s arresta 21-year-old member of the Air National Guard.
Teixeira has been charged with six counts of knowingly withholding and transmitting classified information for removing intelligence documents from a secure work environment and posting them, as well as photos of other documents, to a small group on the Discord platform.
Teixeira pleaded not guilty during a court hearing last month and remains in custody awaiting trial.
The Pentagon has already tried to reduce the number of employees with access to sensitive information, and officials said the new recommendations seek to take advantage of that.
“There was not a single flaw,” a senior defense official said Wednesday, speaking to reporters about the review’s findings on condition of anonymity.
“What we see here is that we have a growing ecosystem of classified facilities and authorized personnel corps,” the official said. “Within that we have opportunities to clarify the policy; the documents are not always the clearest.”
The official said that includes making sure Defense Department personnel understand when and how to report violations of security protocols.
The official also said that efforts are underway to ensure that employees are continuously vetted and that managers have the information they need to revoke security clearances if something in an employee’s record requires changes.
Other changes requested in the review are aimed at improving physical security, including a mandate to install detection systems that identify when a smartphone or other prohibited electronic device is brought into a secure facility.
According to a 2017 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, approximately 4 million people have US security clearances, with 1.3 million authorized to access top secret information.
Following the disclosure of the Discord leak in April, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines called the incident “deeply depressing, very frustrating.”
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