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CIA, FBI Launch Manhunt For WikiLeaks Source (cbsnews.com) 199

An anonymous reader quotes CBS: CBS News has learned that a manhunt is underway for a traitor inside the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA and FBI are conducting a joint investigation into one of the worst security breaches in CIA history, which exposed thousands of top-secret documents that described CIA tools used to penetrate smartphones, smart televisions and computer systems. Sources familiar with the investigation say it is looking for an insider -- either a CIA employee or contractor -- who had physical access to the material... Much of the material was classified and stored in a highly secure section of the intelligence agency, but sources say hundreds of people would have had access to the material. Investigators are going through those names.
Homeland security expert Michael Greenberger told one CBS station that "My best guest is that when this is all said and done we're going to find out that this was done by a contractor, not by an employee of the CIA."
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CIA, FBI Launch Manhunt For WikiLeaks Source

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  • by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Sunday April 23, 2017 @09:23AM (#54287089) Journal

    ...phone roots you.

  • First post. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 23, 2017 @09:24AM (#54287099)

    My comments on the leaks are:

    Hahaha! Haha ha ha hahaha! Hahaha!! Ho ho hahaha! Hahahaha!

    Poetic justice feels good.

  • Patriot (Score:5, Insightful)

    by amiga3D ( 567632 ) on Sunday April 23, 2017 @09:27AM (#54287119)

    They should look for someone that believes in the US Constitution as it was written, not re-interpreted. That'll be their boy. Someone appalled at how the CIA has been allowed to run amok and trample all over the freedoms guaranteed by that document.

    • Re: Patriot (Score:4, Insightful)

      by fortfive ( 1582005 ) on Sunday April 23, 2017 @09:46AM (#54287205)

      Isn't it funny how so many iriginalists lose their principles when it comes to the fourth, fourteenth and first amendments?

      • by s.petry ( 762400 ) on Sunday April 23, 2017 @10:56AM (#54287523)

        The 4th in particular is intended to protect Citizens, not protect the Government. The First amendment gives rights to whistle blowers, and as with the latter not to give protection to the Government. The 14th ensures that a State can not supersede the Federal Constitutional protections, so not relevant to the topic really.

        The problem with people like you who belittle the Constitution as written, and who belittle people who believe that it was intended as written, is that you ignore all of the history that goes with the Constitution. You can find all of the wisdom in the Federalist and anti-Federalist papers (the latter not being what most people believe either). You must have a delusional belief that Government intrusion and abuse of power is something the founders never saw or thought about. As with the Federalist papers and the Constitution, history in this regard is your enemy. England was paying for information, paying informants, paying propagandists, jailing and killing people who spoke out publicly against the Crown's control, etc... The only difference between today and then is the medium, the methods and purposes are the same.

        Your cute little pet names don't sway the arguments or change history.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by sg_oneill ( 159032 )

          Your missing the point. Theres a hell of a lot of "Originalists" who always seem to be the first to suggest changes, want clauses revoked, or happy for weird exceptions to be allowed through if thats whats required to sync their idea of politics with the constitution as written.

          How many republicans still demand prayer in school or creationionism in classrooms despite the plain languaged absolute prohibition of government religion in the first ammendment.

          And yeah libs arent much better on this, but at least

          • by TWX ( 665546 )

            That's because when it comes down to it, everyone wants their own agenda, and simply makes claims about what they are to pander to who will enable them to make their agenda happen. This is why you have to look at the records of actions that people have taken in the past when evaluating the words that they say to you now. This is why it's probably a good idea for Federal office holders to have previous government experience, so that one can see how they've decided on matters in the past, as that will be th

          • Not just no Government religion, no RESPECT for ANY establishment.
            Black letter "Supreme law"
          • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

            by mattmarlowe ( 694498 )

            There is no such thing as separation of church and state in the constitution. There is just a provision blocking the creation of a government run church, e.g. the founders didn't want a Church of the USA and in the same amendment, another provision preventing the government from interfering with citizens practicing religion.....afterall, many of the original colonists left Europe/England because of state run churches like the Church of England forced people to become members or prohibited the practice of

            • by Anonymous Coward

              Satanism is a religion too.

              Not all 'religious values' are what you think they are.

                      Cult: A small, unpopular religion.

                      Religion: A large, popular cult.

            • These colonists were still very supportive of government and the church working in tandem

              Oh really? Which church was 'the church' that you speak of? Which religion was it even?

        • The fact that you think there is a difference between protecting the citizens and the government (of the people, for the people, and by the people) shows how far off the rails we have gone. When the Constitution it's followed properly there is no difference. The fact that we often have to choose which is the now disparate groups is the problem in its entirety.
        • by mi ( 197448 )

          England was paying for information, paying informants, paying propagandists, jailing and killing people who spoke out publicly against the Crown's control

          Citations would've been most helpful here, but let's stipulate, it is all true.

          So, in the 18th century Britain was already doing all of that. And in the 20th it did too — and we still regard Alan Turing's efforts as nothing but heroic and decisive in turning the war in the Allies' favor and saving thousands of lives.

          Why, then, are so many folks

        • Ahh, no
          The 14th limits all powers, state, local etc.. from infringing in "equal rights, privileges and immunities"
          Well, except for that idiotic electoral college
          Because, you know, Scalia said so.
          • Well, except for that idiotic electoral college

            Once again, a leftist/communist/progressive demonstrating a complete irrational ignorance of history. The reason for the Senate and Electoral college is to protect against tyranny by a minority of states with a higher population against a majority of states with less population. Why do you idiots continue to repeat propaganda when it's so easily disproved? Crack a damn history book instead of smoking it!

            • The reason for the Senate and Electoral college is to protect against tyranny by a minority of states with a higher population against a majority of states with less population.

              You're absolutely correct. Damn those tyrants in California for believing their vote should count the same as the vote of any other American. They need to learn that in America the rights don't belong to humans, and we're not all equal before the law. Rights belong to abstract constructs, like corporations or states or, if you're a republican, bank accounts.

              To make this clear, what do you think about formalizing it? How about making the votes of people from highly populated states only count as 3/5 of the

              • by Ichijo ( 607641 )

                Damn those tyrants in California for believing their vote should count the same as the vote of any other American.

                Virginia was able to procure two additional seats in the Senate, thereby increasing their electoral count by two, way back in 1863. What's stopping California from following their lead?

                Or maybe California prefers things the way they are.

              • This is not a comparison of apples to apples here. The constitution actually grants the STATES the right to pick the president by granting them a certain lot of electoral votes in proportion to their populations. How they decide to allocate them is up to the states. The 'popular vote' at a national level isn't actually a thing. It's only aggregated by statisticians, because really popular votes are only used by the states to help determine how they will allot their federally granted electoral votes, and re
              • You're absolutely correct. Damn those tyrants in California for believing their vote should count the same as the vote of any other American. They need to learn that in America the rights don't belong to humans, and we're not all equal before the law. Rights belong to abstract constructs, like corporations or states or, if you're a republican, bank accounts.

                When I hear this kind of stuff, I cringe at the educational system and what it has wrought. If you harbor anger and disagreement with the Constitutio

            • by gwolf ( 26339 )

              The reason for the Senate and Electoral college is to protect against tyranny by a minority of states with a higher population against a majority of states with less population. Why do you idiots continue to repeat propaganda when it's so easily disproved? Crack a damn history book instead of smoking it!

              Funny how the USA is nowadays the only place in the world with such a retrograde, ridiculous electoral system. Most (democratic) countries had it during the 1800s, when travelling was so long and difficult, and there was a place for "electors". Every country without a brain-dead Congress looking just to perpetuate itself and offer a fake democracy when you have only a party duopoly went away to a true "one person, one vote" system.

            • Wrong
              It was created to get agreement from the Slave states.
              Since the point of a rePUBLIC is for the PUBLIC to control who is in power...
              Meanwhile, the 14th Amendment prohibits this kind of elevated "rights" for tiny states.
              Did you get all your "history" from a rightwing spew site?
              Here, learn something from an actual Historian, as reprinted in Time [time.com] magazine.
              Wow, talk about STUPID!
        • The problem with people like you who belittle the Constitution as written, and who belittle people who believe that it was intended as written, is that you ignore all of the history that goes with the Constitution.

          The problem with people like you who worship the Constitution as written ignore all the history that goes with the Constitution - and make up shit from whole cloth to support your nutjob notions. You're no different from the airheads who believe that Nostrodamus could see the future and constantl

      • Who said they had any principles to begin with?
        I give you Rehnquist in Bush v. Gore
    • by Anonymous Coward

      There's just too much money in it for everybody. Funnily enough, this was all predicted by Pres. Eisenhower (who was a war general, a hawk, and a Republican to boot): In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

      How much is a trillion US$ which we spend on defense each year?
      Well, pick a guy at random, and give him

      • House next to the Obamas.
        Where do you live?
        Out here on the left coast, that's a rebuild of a 1960's tract house in Pacoima
        (O.K., I'm exaggerating. But a 1 million dollar house isn't even a hillside out here)
    • by hey! ( 33014 )

      They should look for someone that believes in the US Constitution as it was written, not re-interpreted.

      Correction: they should look for someone who believes he believes this.

    • It's complicated (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      1. Republican House Leader, Nunes received a document, it claimed Trump had been caught in dragnet surveillance of Russian agents in the US and abroad.
      2. Nunes read that document in the Whitehouse, claiming it was a nearby security location. fellow patriot Republicans called bullshit.
      3. The document came from Cohen-Watnick, a Michael Flynn man who works in the Whitehouse with sceurity clearance.
      4. Nunes neglected to say it came from the Whitehouse and refused to name the source.
      5. He presented it as third p

    • They should look for someone that believes in the US Constitution as it was written, not re-interpreted.

      So someone who believes the Federal government should only be involved in national defense, and not in education, environmental protection, labor protection, farm subsidies, health care, retirement funding, communications (including Internet), roads and highways, regulation of banks and the market, etc.

      Feature creep or cherry-picking the principles you feel are worth defending. Pick your poison.

      Someo

      • by TWX ( 665546 )

        Some would argue that the US Government is bound by the Constitution, wherever the US Government acts, and thus agents of the US Government are either subject to prosecution by the US courts whenever they violate the Constitution wherever they may be in the world, or else they are not acting on behalf of the US Government and are therefore bound by local law and subject to local prosecution.

        After all, we already have rules of war that our military is supposed to follow when deployed overseas, and there have

      • by dryeo ( 100693 )

        So someone who believes the Federal government should only be involved in national defense, and not in education, environmental protection, labor protection, farm subsidies, health care, retirement funding, communications (including Internet), roads and highways, regulation of banks and the market, etc.

        A couple of the above clearly come under the interstate commerce clause. Then there is the postal clause and the question about when the post becomes electronic. It's a shame you Americans refuse to keep your Constitution up to date.

        Actually the CIA for the most part isn't bound by the Constitution. The CIA's mission is to protect American interests abroad, where the Constitution doesn't apply.

        And this is the problem with America today. The Constitution obviously applied to the federal government (expanded with the 14th to all government) and the rights, except political rights such as voting, apply to "The People", not just Americans nor do those rights disappear jus

    • Re:Patriot (Score:4, Insightful)

      by StormReaver ( 59959 ) on Sunday April 23, 2017 @11:37AM (#54287705)

      The biggest Traitors to the United States are on the Supreme Court, in the White House, and in Congress. Everyone who has exposed their sabotage to the Constitution is a Patriot and an American hero.

    • Someone appalled at how the CIA has been allowed to run amok and trample all over the freedoms guaranteed by that document.

      The CIA has no domestic jurisdiction. Everyone crying "muh freedumbz" at the CIA misses the tiny little fact that the CIA is not the KGB and not going after domestic intelligence. That is the FBI's jurisdiction, and they would gut the CIA and wear their flesh like a coat before letting the CIA muscle in on their territory if the CIA actually even tried.

    • by rtb61 ( 674572 )

      Reads to me like the buffoons are looking for someone who will spook easy by the publishing of a clearly PR=B$ story. Why the story because they don't have a clue and they are trying to force changes in patterns of behaviour. In the world of professional paranoia those least to trust are your own comrades in invasions of privacy, keeping secret what the public should no, in damaging democracy to feed the ego and greed of a minority, is betrayal of their own society to the detriment of all. The real traitors

    • Are you trying to say that if you had a clearance that you would sell the details of what you were working on to Assaunge or Putin? Or any other agencies tht offered you the money? Or would you give it away for free?

      A simple yes or no will suffice. I'm really, really interested in the answer to that question. If you don't answer, I'll take that as a yes.

    • There should be a "Sad but True" mod. You'd have 1000 points.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 23, 2017 @09:30AM (#54287133)

    The leaks are only metadata. The data stolen with the leaks is still secret.

    Do not worry, CIA. The NSA has assured us that having our metadata stolen is nothing to be concerned over.

  • That they actually have a security breach rather than a "traitor".

  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 23, 2017 @09:35AM (#54287161)

    In less than a decade, we've gone from identifying people as "whistleblowers" to labelling them as "traitors" in the mainstream news.

    The war on truth has been lost. We are all defeated.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Political talk radio and a certain sexual predator that used to be a pundit on Fox News have doing so for decades. The Trump administration is the result of their crap for the last 30 years.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Mike Pompeo is CIA head appointed by Trump. He's trying to spin here the wikileaks source as being from the USA, trying to pin the blame on 'contractor' in friendly media. i.e. the FBI investigation into the Russian hacks, and the dump of that information to Assange, he's trying to sidetrack into a USA leak instead. Trying to pre-rule out Russia.

      If he was investigating the leaks to Assange, he wouldn't be doing it in the press with a pre-assigned conclusion "i.e. contractor". He'd do it in secret and wouldn

    • >In less than a decade, we've gone from identifying people as "whistleblowers" to labelling them as "traitors" in the mainstream news.

      We're not, the.. "mainstream media" are.

  • by xxxJonBoyxxx ( 565205 ) on Sunday April 23, 2017 @09:40AM (#54287173)
    >> (random dude) told (podunk affiliate) that "My...guess is...(something)."

    So...the talking heads get quoted now too? What's the point of including this speculation?
  • like last time
  • Just before the name of the perp is going to be released, there is going to be a hurried meeting with HR in order to reclassify him/her as a contractor and then deny all knowledge of them ever being an employee.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      “A good scapegoat is nearly as welcome as a solution to the problem”

  • "Now listen up, people. We are in serious trouble. Apparently an honest person has infiltrated our organization".

  • by Anonymous Coward

    The correct term is "witch hunt." A man hunt is when there is a fugitive on the loose and you have to find him. A witch hunt is what happens when you are looking for someone who isn't going to get a trial.

  • by CaptainDork ( 3678879 ) on Sunday April 23, 2017 @12:02PM (#54287853)

    ... and not one goddam comment to use them on.

    That surprises me.

    Where is the observation that the fucking CIA has a special, tiny, secret cubbyhole where they store this shit and hundreds have access to it?

    Apparently, the gubmint learned not one fucking thing from Manning and Snowden.

    And, for fuck's sake, don't use the word "treason," when it's "espionage."

    Treason has two major components that are missing in this context:

    1.) A United States Citizen declaring war on the United States. Where's that goddam manifesto? The last time that happened was the Civil War when the Confederacy committed treason.

    2.) Aiding the enemy. The United States does not have a list of enemies. The gubmint considered a list of enemies years ago, but it got complicated. There are guidelines, policies, procedures of law that go into effect for an official enemy.

    Some of those enemies are allies of our allies. Also, "enemies" is a moving target. Also, any United States company who did any sort of business with an "enemy" would be charged with treason.

    Obviously, America has morphed from a Republic to an oligarchy, and global business supersedes all other considerations.

    The last list of enemies was World War Two.

    Don't come at me with Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia.

    We are not at war with any country.

    We are at euphemistic police actions or peace-keeping with those countries.

    Thank you very much.

    I'm moving on to another Slashdot thread where some contributors need my help in getting the attention the readers deserve.

    • hundreds

      Yeah, seems like a pretty small number to me. I mean let's face it with the number of people who have security clearance to access classified information, combined with the population of the USA, combined with the massive military industrial complex that leads itself to many people being involved in national security, frankly I'm surprised the numbers isn't in the thousands.

      Just working on one small project could easily get 20 people added to a particular access list. It's not uncommon for the number to be

    • While your post was insightful, I would argue the following:

      1.) A United States Citizen declaring war on the United States. Where's that goddam manifesto? The last time that happened was the Civil War when the Confederacy committed treason.

      As the Confederate states voted to secede from the union, they could not be judged as technically citizens at that time, therefore not technically treasonous. Of course, if you follow then Lincolnian school of thought, the vote was illegal and therefore null-and-void.

    • I don't necessarily disagree with you, but this seems wrong based off the rest of your post:

      1.) A United States Citizen declaring war on the United States. Where's that goddam manifesto? The last time that happened was the Civil War when the Confederacy committed treason.

      This guy was convicted of treason in WW2, by aiding the Germans (who declared war on the U.S., who then returned it in kind).
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

      Or how about Axis Sally?
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

  • I guess they've finally figured out what had been obvious to everyone else here for 20 years.

  • Ha ha ha. CIA's sooper dooper ultra mega topmost secret weapons weren't compromised by "a" contractor. They were compromised by dozens of contractors, possibly by all of them, and more than a few regular employees too. Most of them didn't publish on Wikileaks though. There's lots of fun to be had and money to be made with tech like that.

  • They haven't had the best track record with their employees recently ...
  • Glad (Score:4, Insightful)

    by AndyKron ( 937105 ) on Sunday April 23, 2017 @02:12PM (#54288321)
    I'm glad I don't work there. Witch hunts suck.
    • Re:Glad (Score:4, Informative)

      by Impy the Impiuos Imp ( 442658 ) on Sunday April 23, 2017 @04:45PM (#54288883) Journal

      If I worked there, I'd, as their computer guy, would be like, let's build an incorruptible and un-bypassable logging system of all access to all data, and exactly what was accessed, along with a physical process whereby the elected officials in Congress on the security committees would review it all. In this way, there could be no G. Gordon Liddy type "special" agents who misuse the data to advantage this or that political faction...

      And I'd be quickly shown the door.

      • by Anonymous Coward

        Problem is, this system already exists. Remember when different versions of the same docs were created/worded slightly differently, depending on who accessed them, so the government could figure out just who was leaking this sort of thing?
        But what happens when you don't like who is implicated?
        Then it was clearly a contractor. Aren't contractors bad? emember when Repubs used to say we should contract out all the work of the evil big government? Now we have to weed out the contractors. My how times have

  • by Pax681 ( 1002592 )

    Homeland security expert Michael Greenberger told one CBS station that "My best guest is that when this is all said and done we're going to find out that this was done by a contractor, not by an employee of the CIA."

    wow.. I GUESS he wasn't an expert in spelling then :P

  • ... they just don't collect all the sensitive information in one place. Maybe they work more effective in the US, with eveyrthing available on a click. But it is muc more save with actual people involved.
    • Re:In Germany ... (Score:5, Informative)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 ) on Sunday April 23, 2017 @09:21PM (#54289799) Journal
      East Germany learned that after a massive data walk out. Every East German spy was on a list and West Germany got that list.
      In the 1960's East Germany divided its information up into groups. The spy name if needed to warn them to escape, code words, the product all went to secure locations.
      No staff member was allowed to put the parts together without in person supervision from the very top of the service.
      No more data could walk out. Staff had product to work on, spies in the West knew their real names, warning networks and escape plan was secure.

      The US idea was more about what a contractor could sell or rent to the US government. Fast data from global collection. Every interesting person had to have a bank account, fax, car phone, desktop computer, modem, email, use an online forum, smart phone, enjoy social media over the decades.
      Interesting people stay in hotel rooms with a smart TV.
      The next US idea was to pool all the data in plain text so it could be search over for decades. Everything was about the data, collection was cheap, sorting was cheap. Translation was getting better.
      The problem was the US forget that first success in East Germany. Dont keep it all together in plain text.
      The US issues is too many contractors all only understanding plain text as a policy so they can work on each others raw product.
      If raw product collected globally is encrypted once it gets to the USA, no other contractor can bid to work with the encrypted data. Thats shutting out other party politically supported contractors with interesting ideas on how to translate, sort, index or work with raw data. Political support always allowed the contractors back in to plain text so they could bid for more mil, gov work.
      Better just to secure the site, trust the contractors and have collection work with plain text. Every contractor can then bid for new work, sort, find data.

      Too many contractors got hired in the last decade, low standards in data protection got to be policy, too many new private sector staff to do any real world background security work on.
      Digital database look ups, short term internet log collection and a lie detector pass could see anyone try for US gov security access.
      US staff wanting to join should have had their entire background walked by real US gov security. School, education, friends, family, faith, politics, protests, travel, languages, books, magazines, internet logs, parents should have been looked into per application. Applicants and their life story should have been interviewed in person, in every state until US gov security was sure the applicant was not a security risk.
      Paper work in their town, city, state matched their life story? Do family and friends exist in the real world, not just as a list on a networked database in the same state?
      Hire for the US mil or gov to ensure security. Contractors are not mil or gov as they are only thinking of the next job.

      The UK and GCHQ faced most of the same issues. The UK fixed most of their staff issues by offering good wages and a real job to staff.
      Once staff have the badge, could feel part of the system, have a good wage a esprit de corp sets in.
      Staff can then plan their life, home, holidays, lifestyle based on a growing gov wage and job security with a good pension.

      The US decided to go with more plain text collection, many more contractors, more random global collection, more overtime for contractors, more movment of new contractors to random locations and ever more contractors working on plain text.
      Contractor profits are more important than security.

      The final insight is from East Germany. East Germany did not like all its spy material been on paper so it went for a new digital for a list of spies to allow for rapid contact of many of its spies in the West. That would save time to issue complex commands that could be very time sensitive. The US security services found the East German digital master list and walked out with it.
  • by Max_W ( 812974 ) on Sunday April 23, 2017 @11:48PM (#54290221)
    to watch and listen what usual (fat, skinny, old, etc.) people do and say before these Samsung TVs... It should be a strenuous and traumatizing job, as what is seen cannot be unseen.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    Not the American People.

    Must be talking about the Intelligence Community...

  • Is that the right CIA or the left CIA doing the manhunt? Don't tell me you believe there's only one.

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