White House issues executive order in wake of WikiLeaks reports

[cal04]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Seventeen months after U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was arrested for allegedly downloading reams of classified information that WikiLeaks would later share with the world, the Obama administration issued a directive Friday that seeks to improve how the government protects secrets on its computer networks.

The executive order, the product of a task force formed in the wake of the WikiLeaks reports, seeks to standardize how agencies protect classified data while also promoting the sharing of intelligence, the White House said in a statement.

(snip)

Friday’s order requires agencies to designate a senior official to oversee classified information sharing and safeguarding; implement an insider-threat detection and prevention program; and perform self-assessments of compliance with policy and standards, the White House says.

The order also establishes a special government committee that must report to the president within 90 days, and then at least once a year after that, examining federal performance in protecting classified information on computer networks.

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/10/executive-order-on-government-secrets.html

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. Sssssssshush! It's a secret.

[buckrogers1965]

2. The barn door.

Now it must be closed.

Seriously though, how can anyone access anything they want on the networks without being linked to some case they are working on. Additionally why aren't their supervisors and security staff reviewing all normal accesses on a weekly basis? Of course an unusual pattern of accesses should immediately cause flags to raise.

[No Elephants]

3. Stop over-classifying. The people who pay your salaries and ALL the bills for everything y'all cook

up over there have a right to know.

[Celefin]

4. The USSR had that

"implement an insider-threat detection and prevention program; and perform self-assessments of compliance with policy and standards"

They called it a 'policy officer'. Hated by everyone except the KGB.
This s a full-time job for somebody who will then be completely non-productive.
Kills morale.
Good for career-advancement for otherwise useless friends of people hgher up, though.

[bemildred]

5. I hope this works better than the one that ordered DOJ to leave medical pot alone. nt