Tulsi Gabbard
CBS News national security coordinating producer James LaPorta reports in an article titled, “DNI Tulsi Gabbard orders U.S. intel agency leaders to stem leaks.” Excerpt:
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in the last month issued a memo ordering U.S. intelligence agencies to conduct a review of whether random polygraph examinations of their employees or contractors are feasible.
At the same time, the directive emphasizes the need for tests to include questions about whether employees or potential applicants have leaked information to members of the press as part of the standard battery of questions during the security clearance adjudication process, CBS News has learned.
While questions related to leaks have been commonplace for U.S. intelligence community employees and applicants, the Trump administration is intensifying efforts to curb disclosures of classified and sensitive information by warning intelligence community members they’ll face additional scrutiny over leaks to media outlets. In many ways, Gabbard’s directive echoes earlier hard-line stances undertaken by previous administrations of both political parties to root out sources of revelations that were either potentially damaging to national security or politically embarrassing.
Two sources familiar with Gabbard’s memo said that the directive emphasizes polygraph test questions related to leaks of information to the press and said the tests would become more routine in conjunction with counterintelligence investigations. The officials, who spoke to CBS News under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said that while the U.S. government has a responsibility to safeguard its information, the mandate could stem the flow of information the public has the right to know, even if it’s unclassified.
An official with the Office of Director of National Intelligence, known as ODNI, told CBS News that while the directive does reinforce questions related to leaks to members of the press, Gabbard’s memo does not establish new policies, but instead emphasizes existing regulations and legal statutes. The directive also does not direct agencies to begin random polygraph examinations but instead asks agencies within the U.S. intelligence community to review the feasibility of conducting random polygraphs in conjunction with counterintelligence investigations.
The official said the review is based on internal U.S. intelligence community findings that indicated a lack of polygraph examinations has emboldened former U.S. intelligence community members to spy on behalf of U.S. adversaries. The ODNI official was unable to provide further details on the study or when it was conducted. The official emphasized that Gabbard’s directive does not order additional screenings.
Read the rest of the story here.
Director Gabbard is seemingly unaware of the National Research Council’s finding that “[polygraph testing’s] accuracy in distinguishing actual or potential security violators from innocent test takers is insufficient to justify reliance on its use in employee security screening in federal agencies.”