Espionage!

According to the Washington Post its reporting on Flynn’s contacts with the Russian ambassador its story derived from nine current and former officials, who were in senior positions at multiple agencies at the time of the calls.  Nine people violated the law.

Why is this not the story today. This is outrageous!

Okay, Flynn screwed up, should have been more open with the Vice President, and because he is now tainted (and that job requires the absolute confidence of POTUS) he had to go. I get that.

The real question is, who in these various agencies is discussing communications intelligence.

Communications intelligence – hard transcript data from phone calls made by foreign nationals, is protected in two ways. First by being classified as to content (what was discussed) and second as to how the transcript were obtained (sources and methods). The traditional way that such intelligence information is protected is by giving it a security level (secret, top-secret, etc.) and if it involves communications intelligence (COMINT/SIGINT) it is given a codeword. Codeword intelligence is one of the most sensitive of all forms of intelligence, and one reason why Edward Snowden should be shot like a rabid dog after being tortured on pay-per-view. You reveal sources when you reveal the fact that we intercept or target certain officials of certain governments. You reveal methods indirectly in this manner. Each of these nine government officials purposefully broke laws and violated statements they signed promising to protect codeword classified material for disclosure. Each of them should be identified, stripped of their clearances, and cashiered. You cannot have a government afflicted with the steady publication of its official secrets. You have to nail the coffin closed on these people and prosecute them if necessary.

Every agency that received this intelligence should be asked to audit recipients, and every recipient should be polygraphed and videotaped so that microexpressions can be evaluated for deception. Anyone who doesn’t straight up truthfully deny that they are a leak should be relieved of their duties.