There are very critical issues missing from news reports about the U.S. government's protection of so called classified information and its pursuit of that data's leakors. Who classified the data; why; and how is that classification valid? If leakors of so called classified information are to be charged with crimes or heavily criticized in the news media, that information is crucial to protect the accused.

::::::::

There are very critical issues missing from news reports about the U.S. government's protection of so called classified information and its pursuit of that data's leakors.

Who classified the data; why; and how is that classification valid?

Scores of news reports have focused on so called classified information leaked out in thousands of documents by WikiLeaks, its agents and entirely separately by Edward Snowden, who exposed the National Security Agency's massive domestic surveillance program.

Those news reports generally discuss the kind of information disclosed. But, no government agent is quoted as specifically justifying why the data became secret in the first place or who decided it should be so classified.

If leakors of so called classified information are to be charged with crimes or heavily criticized in the news media, that information is crucial to protect the accused. As well, the public needs to be assured that those classifying information as secret have not done so simply to cover up their own mistakes or the government's crucial and intentional errors.

Federal prosecutors are in the midst of a court-martial of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst on a charge of aiding the enemy for sending thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks. They are still pursuing Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, for his role in widely publishing such documents.

Now, according to news reports, federal authorities are separately investigating Snowden, a 29-year-old defense contractor, for leaking documents and data about the classified domestic surveillance program to Britain's The Guardian newspaper and The Washington Post.

Missing from most daily news reports on the leaks of secrecy issues headlined for months worldwide is this crucial issue. Where is the U.S. government's proof that the hordes of data at the center of these controversies is properly classified? Where is the valid explanation that each and every one of the documents in question has any information that needs a security classification? And, is there any motivation to cover up data embarrassing to the government, its hired security companies or their employees by simply classifying it?

Here is but one big area of doubt created in the title of a detailed article inside George Washington University's version of the National Security Archive: "Systematic Overclassification of Defense Information Poses Challenge for President Obama's Security Review." The article discloses reams of overclassified data in decades of government documents. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nukevault/ebb281/index.htm

It points out that: Pentagon classification authorities are treating classified historical documents as if they contain today's secrets, rather than decades-old information that has not been secret for many years.

Here is the legal definition of secret data: USC - 834 - "Classified information" defined:. the term "classified information" means information which, for reasons of national security, is specifically designated by a United States Government agency for limited or restricted dissemination or distribution.

It would seem logical and simply fair that every single classified document needs accountability and identification from the source or sources classifying it. They need to reveal exactly why it is or was classified, and why that so called classification is valid or still valid. Even legally classified documents need to be constantly monitored to assure their top secret, secret and confidential classifications are still valid today.

Restricted Data stamp by Wikipedia

Authors Website: http://www.birdscrittersbutterflies.webs.com/

Authors Bio:
Thomas D. Williams, a freelance writer, worked at The Hartford Courant for almost 40 years before retiring in November 2005 to become an investigative freelancer on Internet news sites. He has written a unique nature book, The Spirits of Birds, Bears, Butterflies and All Those Other Wild Creatures. It's summaries, photos and videos are posted on the Internet at http://www.birdscrittersbutterflies.webs.com/

After graduating from Middlebury College in 1962, he became a military intelligence officer specializing in investigating North Korean border crossers and in working on secret and top secret security clearances for government employees in Washington, D.C.

Throughout his career at the Courant, he has been a town reporter, a night police reporter, a state desk reporter, a state and federal court reporter and an investigative team reporter. He has been a supervisor of state reporters assigned to investigative work.

Williams has worked on countless investigations of governmental and business corruption. His earliest inquiries involved the exploitation of immigrants by high priced lawyers using U.S. Congressmen to obtain private immigration bills; and the exorbitant fees charged by lawyers friendly with a Hartford Probate Judge, eventually leading to the state's first impeachment inquiry of the judge. Still other of Williams' inquiries included an expose of Bridgeport Superior Court judge appointing and hiring his friends and relatives for court jobs; an extensive three week two-reporter car surveillance of the state's tax collector who was loafing on state time; misspending of state and federal grants and logging funds by Schaghticoke leaders on the Kent reservation; significant pollution of potential drinking water supplies by Kaman Aerospace; monopoly trash contractors overcharging customers; contract manipulations for companies with political influence at the Mid-Connecticut trash-to-energy plant and the banking bill voting records of legislators with bank interests.

In the past 15 years, he has worked extensively on investigative stories involving so called mysterious Persian Gulf War illnesses haunting U.S. and allied troops, the hazards of depleted uranium munitions and on articles controversies over the safety and legality of the military's mandatory anthrax vaccine.

Throughout his career, Dennie has received numerous local, state and national journalism awards, primarily for investigative reporting.

After retiring from The Courant in November 2005, Williams began freelancing for several Connecticut papers including The Connecticut Law Tribune and for Truthout.org and The Public Record http://pubrecord.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1, both in depth and investigative reporting news sites.