WASHINGTON — The U.S. intelligence chief said the country should learn “the right lessons” and not overreact when hundreds of classified documents are leaked through a social network popular with gamers.
The large-scale leak included information on the war in Ukraine and intelligence collected by the United States on its adversaries and allies.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haynes called it “deeply depressing, very unfortunate.”
But she also warned against hasty changes to security protocols that could prevent the United States from effectively sharing and using intelligence in the future.
“I think we always learn, in any scenario, in any incident, when we understand what happened and try to better protect our information,” Haynes said, speaking to an audience. of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. .
“I think we’re all trying to learn the right lessons and not go overboard,” she added. “What I mean is that we have to try to use best practices, and at the same time not undermine our ability to communicate adequately and fulfill our mission.”
Jack Teichera, 21, of the Air National Guard, was arrested earlier this month in connection with the leak.
He is responsible for grabbing documents from a secure workplace, taking them home, and then posting information or photos of documents in a small group on the social network Discord.
However, The New York Times reported last week that Teixera may also have posted classified information on a public YouTube channel with hundreds of subscribers.
On Sunday, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee told ABC News that other agencies, not just the military, may have to impose new restrictions on access to top-secret documents.
“When it comes to the highest levels of secrecy, we probably have too many people looking at them, over 4 million people with security clearances,” said Democratic Senator Mark Warner, whose committee oversees the services. intelligence of the country.
However, the director of national intelligence called for a “balanced” approach, noting that the US decision to widely share intelligence, and in some cases to declassify it, helped undermine Russian influence operations before the invasion of Ukraine by Moscow and helped galvanize support for Kiev.
“During the conflict in Ukraine, we ourselves went through very careful procedures to make sure that we could release as much information as we thought possible while preserving our sources and our methods. And I think that was the good decision,” Haynes said.
“It always carries risks,” she added. “But I think it can also benefit national security and foreign policy. And this, of course, is our ultimate mission.
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