If 600,000 people had access to this "classified" information, it wasn't classified.

[LuckyLib]

Period. The leak was set up from the get-go with information that was free-flowing for anyone who happened to have "access". Don't cry foul now. The CIA and State Department are wracked with incompetence.

[abelenkpe]

1. And crazy outdated equipment

At least at the state department. ;)

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Totally untrue. There are many levels of classified, and given that US has 300 million people

600K knowing something is still pretty damn classified.

You might not think so, but 600k is still a mere 0.2% of the population.

Seriously, one must look at the math first, not the knee-jerk emotionalism that belies any sense of logic or rightness.

[LiberalFighter]

3. I'm not sure I would use the 300 million figure.

I think 2 million would be a more appropriate figure as that is approx number of federal employees.

Of that:
652,000 Defense
171,000 Homeland Security
108,000 Justice
15,000 State
30,000 Legislative Branch

[Sonoman]

4. the 300M figure is irrelevant.

We are talking members of military, DoD, HLS, etc between 18-62 (or thereabout).

Go tell a secret to 600,000 people (of any age or persuasion) and expect for it to stay secret.

Good luck.

Sonoman

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. You clearly do not understand how the classification sysetms works

NYT has said that most of them were at the confidential level, not secret

[Sonoman]

6. I've been thinking about the math

If you even take 1/10 of 1% of 600K...

Leaky condom kind of thing.

This new technology is worse than smoke signals.

Sonoman

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. Cleared to know and need to know are very different

Also the vast majority were not classified as Secret

[jberryhill]

8. The Normandy Invasion Force Was About 175,000