WASHINGTON, July 16: Stung by leaked reports of US planning for military action against Iraq, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has called on US military leaders in a memorandum made public on Tuesday to rein in damaging disclosures of classified information.
Rumsfeld circulated an unclassified CIA memorandum warning to the Pentagon brass that unauthorized leaks have tipped off Al Qaeda to US intelligence capabilities, hurting the US war against terrorism.
“The disclosure of classified information is damaging our country’s ability to stop terrorist acts and is putting American lives at risk,” he said in the July 12 memorandum.
“Your leadership is needed to help stop leaks,” he said. “Please meet with your staff to discuss the seriousness of the damaging lack of professionalism we continue to see on a daily basis,” he wrote.
The memorandum came just two days after a New York Times report that said US military planners were considering using bases in Jordan to stage air and commando operations against Iraq in the event Washington decided to invade.
The Times had earlier reported on a US planning document that called for a massive US air, land and sea invasion of Iraq from three directions in a campaign to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
In a televised interview on Monday, Rumsfeld vented his anger at the officials who leaked the information.
“I would dearly like to find them,” he told CNBC. “I think that people who know who those people are would do the country a service if they’d let me know who those people are. And I’d like to see them behind bars.”
A hallmark of Rumsfeld’s tenure as defense secretary has been to keep a close hold on information, a practice that has led to clashes with members of Congress and senior military officials.
The Central Intelligence Agency document attached to Rumsfeld’s memo said Al Qaeda pays close attention to publicly available information that will help it evade US intelligence.
“A growing body of reporting indicates that Al Qaeda planners have learned much about our counterterrorist intelligence capabilities from US and foreign media,” the document said.
Information obtained from detainees has revealed that Al Qaeda operatives have altered their practices in response to what they have learned from the press about US intelligence capabilities.
“The cumulative effect of public disclosures of classified, terrorism-related information — including significant losses from such disclosures predating Sept 11 — has jeopardized highly fragile and very sensitive intelligence capabilities that we require for the successful prosecution of the war against terrorism.”—AFP