Top Secret Docments

[jdobbin]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gaXvqtD...4iwDDwD9180P1O1

Two secret government documents about al-Qaida and Iraq were left on a London commuter train, British officials said Wednesday.

The British Broadcasting Corp. said the documents were found by a member of the public who handed them to the broadcaster. A police investigation is under way.

Now we know where Bernier is.

[HisSelf]

url]

Now we know where Bernier is.

LOL.

[FTA Lawyer]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gaXvqtD...4iwDDwD9180P1O1

Now we know where Bernier is.

I've posed the question before...why do we accept utter incompetence in government, when you couldn't behave this way and keep your job at a Tim Hortons? I take better care of my gym membership card than do politicians with highly sensitive intelligence!

Just how many of the world's governments' secrets are being misplaced by morons who have for some reason been entrusted to care for them?

FTA

[marcinmoka]

Maybe a modern equivalent of the ol' Haversack Ruse.

Doubt it, but you never now!

[Army Guy]

I hope your right , because alot of work on the ground goes into gathering that intel, to have it wasted because some desk wienie could'nt keep his head screwed on right....which brings the question why did he have that info on him in the first place, should have been left in a secure enviroment....

[bush_cheney2004]

I hope your right , because alot of work on the ground goes into gathering that intel, to have it wasted because some desk wienie could'nt keep his head screwed on right....which brings the question why did he have that info on him in the first place, should have been left in a secure enviroment....

Alas, information security isn't what it use to be. Ever since the Red Menace went away, the stakes have been reduced by attitudes and media proliferation. Good thing that most people are more interested in Brangelina's baby photos than state secrets.

[August1991]

I blame this problem on "Security Classification Inflation". If you're an ambitious bureaucrat, you classify your reports as high as you can because then there's a chance that you will be read. All the way up the bureaucratic supply chain, the same imperative applies. (The name of Canada's highest security classification is itself an official secret.)

Inevitably, the location of a washroom in a government building becomes "classified" information. Bureaucrats create ever more complex rules and finer distinctions between supposed secrets.

To the broader public, this is all irrelevant and journalists can make an easy story about how a minister left a "classified" document in a coffee shop.

[GostHacked]

There were those documents left in the trash on Bank street here in Ottawa with regards to blueprints for a new military installation that is a first response facility for distasters of anykind.

FTA, you are so correct. You don't post enough!!

People would rather live in the fantasy world and say everything is fine. That is how leaders are able to get away with this crap. People would rather look away and ignore it than confront it to make things better. Because of the fear people live in about reprocussions if they speak out. Like someone who does not want to rat out the theif at work because that person might get in trouble from others that you work with. This is where it helps to have a backbone and a sense of right and wrong.

I have ratted people out at work. And I would do it again, and because I had the balls to say something, I have made the work environment here a better and safer place to work. Only if more people would do this. We could change the world overnight.

I have also earned a lot of respect from more people than I can think of. People have thanked me for my actions. I did it so overtly that people instantly payed attention. I have not only ratted on union employees, I have ratted on other people in mangement. Somehow I got respect from all sides. Maybe it is because I can stand on my own. And have fought on my own. People don't mind being used, but people hate being abused.

The word here is integrity.

August...

To the broader public, this is all irrelevant and journalists can make an easy story about how a minister left a "classified" document in a coffee shop.

Maybe you need to educate yourself on classified documents, and how leaving them at a coffee shop would really be a bad thing. You would not leave your credit history report just lying on the coffee shop table for all to see? You would not leave your wallet there, why would you leave work documents there? Even if they were NOT classified.

BC is right in a sense. Information today is worth more than gold. But with computers storing all the information, and with all these computers connected together, all you need is a plain computer to get at all that other information. The most important data is stored on isolated server systems that do not whatsoever touch any other private/public/military network.

[August1991]

August...

Maybe you need to educate yourself on classified documents, and how leaving them at a coffee shop would really be a bad thing. You would not leave your credit history report just lying on the coffee shop table for all to see? You would not leave your wallet there, why would you leave work documents there? Even if they were NOT classified.

GH, maybe you need to educate yourself on how and why federal bureaucrats determine the classification level of documents.

"Classified" usually refers to personal information. "Confidential" refers to state interests. Bernier's problem is a confidential document.

[GostHacked]

GH, maybe you need to educate yourself on how and why federal bureaucrats determine the classification level of documents.

"Classified" usually refers to personal information. "Confidential" refers to state interests. Bernier's problem is a confidential document.

OH OK, so that is the excuse to leave the documents there anyways??? I don't need much of an a education to understand and realize that work documents just don't get left at a coffee shop.

Here is what I understand about the difference of the two.

When I go see a doctor, that information is CONFIDENTIAL. Only you and your doctor know.

Top Secret documents are considered CLASSIFIED. Only selected approved personel may know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classified_information.

OH wait. Confidential is a classification of Classified information. Interesting. So I am not correct.

[marcinmoka]

Good thing that most people are more interested in Brangelina's baby photos than state secrets.

lol! Sad, yet true. Ultimately, this tidbit belongs in the Political Philosophy section with regards to the decline of western civilization.

[August1991]

OH OK, so that is the excuse to leave the documents there anyways??? I don't need much of an a education to understand and realize that work documents just don't get left at a coffee shop.

GH, my broader point is that in government, almost everything gets classified in some way or another because that makes it "important". If you're a bureaucrat, and you want to be important, you'll want to classify your documents at the highest level possible.

FTA's point is a little different. FTA is saying that government employees treat public affairs/issues differently from the way you or I treat our private affairs. That strikes me as hardly an original observation but it does go to the core problem of government.

For example, I spend my own money carefully because it involves real choices for me. As a government employee, I spent government money differently. It wasn't my money and I wasn't usually buying something for myself. I had my father's credit card and I was buying a gift for my brother's new wife.

[GostHacked]

GH, my broader point is that in government, almost everything gets classified in some way or another because that makes it "important". If you're a bureaucrat, and you want to be important, you'll want to classify your documents at the highest level possible.

FTA's point is a little different. FTA is saying that government employees treat public affairs/issues differently from the way you or I treat our private affairs. That strikes me as hardly an original observation but it does go to the core problem of government.

For example, I spend my own money carefully because it involves real choices for me. As a government employee, I spent government money differently. It wasn't my money and I wasn't usually buying something for myself. I had my father's credit card and I was buying a gift for my brother's new wife.

When you spend taxpayers money it matters to all of us, and you can see the reasons we hate waste in our own lives and really hate to see that scale of waste. It is becuase you don't care that much about money that is not your. But alas, some of that money is yours, in taxes you pay. So please treat it with respect and get the best bang for that dollar. If you are just going to piss it away, I would rather have someone else in charge who cares.

It is not an origional observation, but the fact is that observation has been around for decades, and nothing done about it. You should have more care with goverment money/documents because it means more that just one person's personal life. It means many many lives will be affected by this. So again, take more care with our money.