Expect a Lot More Intel Leaks

Did you enjoy the WikiLeaks storm? Well, there could soon be a lot more like it. There are more opportunities for leaks than ever before, observes the Christian Science Monitor, because the government is generating more classified data than ever and is granting security clearances to huge numbers of people. “The classifying of information has gone way up—it’s doubled or tripled since these wars began,” says Coleen Rowley, an FBI whistleblower. “Someone is going to decide, ‘This is enough’ and act on it.”

The proliferation of thumb drives and the like has made smuggling documents much easier. “There is a whole body of people in the IT world, primarily the younger people, who believe in ‘digital libertarianism,’” says one political psychology professor. They believe that information should be free, and “that all these official secrets and classifications are old-fashioned.” (More WikiLeaks stories.)