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The 'Mosaic' Method and the Value of CIA Names to U.S. Adversaries
It’s a fundamental principle inculcated into CIA officers from day one: individual pieces of information can be combined to provide a picture that discloses sensitive intelligence.
But former officials scoffed at the explanation, saying that the names and initials could be combined with other information — from driver’s license and car registration systems, social media accounts and publicly available data from universities that the agency uses as recruiting grounds — to piece together a more complete list. It may be counterintuitive to most people, but those of us who have served in the intelligence community operate on the assumption that anything we say on an open telephone line, send over an unclassified email system, or speak in any location apart from a "Secure Compartmented Information Facility" may be intercepted by any number of foreign actors. It is certainly the President's responsibility to appoint the senior leadership of the intelligence community, with the advice and consent of the Senate where provided by law, and for the National Security Council and Congressional oversight committees to know the identities of key personnel, it is a striking and dangerous departure for any Administration or the Congress to request names of working level employees.
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