Stuck in an Academic Bubble

In an May 4, 2014 Washington Post op-ed titled “Stuck in an Intelligence Bubble,” Lehigh University Professor Henri Barkey argued that a recent order by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper banning contacts between intelligence community personnel and the news media without authorization will damage U.S. intelligence analysis because it will deny intelligence analysis access to “outsiders,” especially think tanks. Barkey also says this directive suggests “Clapper seemed to think that information is only valuable if it is collected clandestinely.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. While intelligence analysts have access to wide range of classified intelligence, the majority of information they use comes from unclassified sources. Much of this is translations by the CIA Open Source Center of foreign newspapers and broadcasts. As a CIA intelligence analyst, I read five newspapers a day, waded through many journals and often tasked the Open Source Center for my research.

I don’t know how Professor Barkey got the idea that the Clapper directive will stop intelligence personnel from attending think tank conferences or meeting with academic experts. The directive does not say this. Think tank conferences and academic contacts are important parts of the research that intelligence analysts conduct and will continue.

I also take exception to a claim by Professor Barkey that foreign travel by intelligence analysts “only rarely travel abroad” and their foreign travel is useless because it is heavily scripted. I know from my time with the CIA and the House Intelligence Committee staff that these claims are untrue.

Clapper’s order that intelligence officers not speak with the media and report media contacts is no different from CIA’s standing rules on this matter. Intelligence employees will now be required to attend annual awareness training for dealing with the press. Clapper’s directive is necessary because of the Snowden and Manning leaks, unauthorized “background” comments to the press by intelligence officers, and increasingly aggressive efforts by reporters to obtain access to classified documents. I’ve lost count of the number of times that reporters asked me if I could give them “a peek” or mail them copies of classified documents when I was on the House Intelligence Committee staff. Unfortunately, some intelligence officers need to be reminded that providing classified information to the news media is against the law and a violation of their security oaths.

The Federation of American Scientists, the ACLU, left wing bloggers and NSA leaker Edward Snowden have condemned Clapper’s order. This is not a surprise since Snowden and these groups seem to oppose all U.S. government secrecy and refuse to acknowledge that we live in a dangerous world and need robust intelligence capabilities to safeguard our security.

Professor Barkey has had a long and distinguished career as an academic and served for a few years on the State Department Policy Planning Staff. However, it is apparent from his op-ed that he has no experience working for the U.S. Intelligence Community.