Yesterday’s
Wikileaks release, which detailed the scope of the CIA’s hacking
capabilities, has sent the U.S. government on a search for the source
of the leak. However, the government has yet to respond to the
concerns that have been raised by the contents of the leak.
by
Whitney Webb
The transparency advocate group
Wikileaks has made plenty of enemies in the U.S. government over the
years, but yesterday’s events likely earned them several more.
Wikileaks’ recent publication of
the “Vault 7” files details the CIA’s technological
capabilities, including its arsenal of sophisticated hacking tools
and its ability to turn every Internet-enabled consumer electronic
device into a listening device. The U.S. government has decided to
respond by “preparing a major mole
hunt” to track down the suspected
leaker who provided the “Vault 7” documents to Wikileaks.
According to inside sources cited
by the Washington Post, Wikileaks’ latest release “rattled
government and technology industry officials”
who spent much of yesterday attempting to confirm the authenticity of
the leaks and assessing the potential damage they and upcoming leaks
may cause. Former CIA Director Mike Hayden told MSNBC that he had not
extensively investigated the “Vault 7” releases, but said the
leaks “would be very, very
damaging” if proven accurate.
Wikileaks has been intentionally
vague about its source in order to protect his or her identity. In
the “Vault 7” press release it stated that the material came from
“an isolated, high-security
network” within the CIA’s Center
for Cyber Intelligence in Langley, Virginia. Beyond that, little
information has been revealed regarding the source, leading to
speculation that it could have been a rogue employee, a federal
contractor working for the CIA or a hacker who gained access to a
government server.
The source, like previous leakers
such as Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, appeared to have decided
to provide Wikileaks with the documents due to concerns about
government overreach and possible criminal behavior. The source of
the leaks told Wikileaks in a statement that he or she wished to
“initiate a public debate about the
security, creation, use, proliferation and democratic control of
cyber-weapons.” The leaker also
detailed “policy questions that
they say urgently need to be debated in public, including whether the
CIA’s hacking capabilities exceed its mandated powers and the
problem of public oversight of the agency.”
It remains unclear if the CIA has
formally reported the leak to the Justice Department, as the agency
declined to comment on the leak or its planned response. Whatever
response is chosen will likely mirror government responses to
previous leaks.
For example, in the case of the
Manning leaks, the Obama administration prosecuted Manning and
created the National Insider Threat Task Force to help government
workers spot potential leakers. The administration did nothing to
correct the wrongdoings exposed by the leaks. Similar efforts were
realized following Edward Snowden’s exposure of NSA surveillance.
Given the broad scope of this
latest leak, it seems likely that the U.S. government will continue
to ignore the ethical concerns it has raised, instead redirecting
public attention toward the threats – real or imagined – that the
leak could pose to national security.
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