All posts tagged "Security Clearance"

When news broke that 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard airman Jack Teixeira leaked defense documents on the social network Discord, experts and concerned citizens alike began questioning who vetted this low-level service member who potentially caused grave damage to national security.

The Teixeira saga, which will likely play out for years to come across courtrooms, Capitol Hill and the Pentagon, laid bare how a troubled young man with extremist tendencies needed only a computer and reliable home internet to disseminate government secrets.

But on a more fundamental level, Teixeira’s leaks represent just the dramatic, final failure of an enfeebled national security vetting system that struggles at times to track which employees have access to classified information at all....

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel acknowledged authorities missed some "red flags" that might have averted a deadly shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard, vowing to close any gaps in security.

Luckily for the people who never, ever want to talk about using gun control to control who gets guns, there's an exciting new distraction to talk about: security clearance! As in, how did the guy with a long history of violent mental illness get security clearance? It's a great card to play whenever someone asks how he obtained weapons with which to murder over a dozen people. Indeed, it got played pretty quickly on me on Twitter, which is how I know this shit is coming. I tweeted: