Forever Wars points out that leaker Jack Teixeira was not any of the old types of spies:
On a Discord server with the charming name Thug Shaker Central, someone with the handle "OG"—we'll soon see why that's a chef's-kiss—was what the Post calls "the ultimate arbiter of secrecy, and he allowed his companions to read truths that 'normal citizens' could not." OG had access to Intellipedia, which is somewhere between Wikipedia and Reddit for super-secret squirrels, and that seems to have been the wellspring of what he told the server. OG acted in an extreme fashion, but in a way I find familiar from my own dealings with people who aren't trigger-pullers inside the vast national-security apparatus: He was a gatekeeper for the normies, offering scraps of what the government is keeping from them, and establishing himself as the arbiter of hidden truth and motivation. This is what happens when people who live to post have clearances. . . .
The early—I reiterate early, there's a lot more to be discovered here—portrait of OG is that he's a right-wing chud who didn't leak internal secrets to disrupt operations, change policy or aid a foreign power, hostile or friendly. "He is not a Russian operative. He is not a Ukrainian operative… [and]I would definitely not call him a whistleblower," someone from the server assessed. First and foremost, OG wanted to "benefit his online family."
In other words, OG didn't leak for patriotism, principle, or even money. This motherfucker leaked for that most ineffable thing, something nonmaterial but nevertheless hyper-real in the logic of the poster, and particularly the right-wing-chud poster: clout.
In other words, OG didn't leak for patriotism, principle, or even money. This motherfucker leaked for that most ineffable thing, something nonmaterial but nevertheless hyper-real in the logic of the poster, and particularly the right-wing-chud poster: clout.
ReplyDeleteOh, it gets even worse. There's a multiplayer tank battle simulation game called War Thunder, and on multiple different occasions, players of the game have gone onto their forums and posted classified military documents detailing the technical specifications of various real world tanks represented in the game, in order to support their positions about game balance.
Forget clout - there are people leaking simply for the sake of trying to win internet arguments. I confess to being an argumentative person in a lot of ways, but I've never wanted to be right so badly that I considered committing very serious federal crimes.
This information puts people at risk of their lives. Deaths will occur. Some will be suspected and be innocent of spying, and some will be outed as spies. And I’m sure many are saying “What about the government officials who have been found to have taken home classified documents?”
ReplyDeleteSandy Berger, Clinton's National Security Advisor, sneaking classified docs out of the archives by stuffing them down his pants -- Stuffing Them Down His Pants -- and then hiding them under a construction trailer -- Under A Construction Trailer -- to be picked up later. His reason: He wanted to destroy them. No jail time, guilty of a misdemeanor. Then there is Petraeus who, while head of the CIA, shared classified docs with his autobiographer and mistress (for lack of a better word). His reason: Thinking with the wrong head. He pleads guilty to mishandling classified information, another misdemeanor. It isn't just young posters who do stupid things. So do arrogant, powerful, experienced adults. "Those rules are for the peasants not me." Yet all I heard yesterday was how stupid this kid's reasons for doing it were and how that had to do with his age.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why anyone would share information with us and think they are safe.
ReplyDelete@Shadow- part of the reason we can't keep anything secret is that our secret bureaucracy has grown so large that more than a million people have a Top Secret clearance.
ReplyDeleteYes, John, and one reason it is so large is we classify things that don't need classifying, which breeds disrespect foe the system. But you can't get in trouble if no one is permitted to see or talk about what you did.
ReplyDelete