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RUMSFELD: Leaking Classified Info 'Outrageously Irresponsible'
Tuesday, July 23, 2002
By SFC Kathleen T. Rhem
U.S. Army
American Forces Press Service

"Depending on the severity of the leak, people caught passing classified information could spend significant time in jail under the Espionage Act and the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ)."

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
Anyone in DoD who would leak classified information to the press is so "outrageously irresponsible" that an investigation to find that person is worth the cost, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said July 22.

Rumsfeld ordered the Air Force's Office of Special Investigation to look into a leak that is the purported basis of a July 5 New York Times article on a secret war plan for an attack on Iraq. The information in the article allegedly came from a top-secret document provided by an anonymous defense official.

"I think anyone who has a position where they touch a war plan has an obligation to not leak it to the press or anybody else, because it kills people," Rumsfeld said in a Pentagon press briefing.

He was adamant that the person who leaked the document should be jailed. He said people could get killed if others start treating "war plans like paper airplanes" they can fly to anybody who wants them.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan