Safeguarding Classified Information Essay

As citizens of the United States one of the greatest expectations of the government is that it will provide safety from those wishing to inflict harm. This expectation of the government is becoming increasingly more difficult as the enemy become less obvious. With the latest acts of terrorism against the United States by unremarkable jihadists the goal of complete safety is nearly impossible. What makes this task even slightly attainable is the ability to collect information against the enemy and convert it into actionable intelligence. An important aspect of utilizing intelligence is keeping the nature of the information and the manner in which it was obtained classified form anyone who does not need to know. In 2009 President Obama signed Executive Order
The classification authority lies in the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, designated agency officials designated by the President, and some other officials who are permitted to classify at lower levels (Obama, 2009, n.p). One important aspect of safeguarding classified information is to keep the information out of the hands of people who do not need to know. Classified information is regulated by on a need to know basis. Unless there is a need for an individual to know the information it is against the law to share the information regardless of the person’s clearance. According to Brian Fung (2014), the United States had approximately 5.1 million security clearances issued to government employees and contractors, of which approximately 1.5 million were classified top secret (n.p). With such a large amount of people having access to some of the national’s most classified information there is always risk for mismanagement. It is true that no one is exempt from the procedures of safeguarding classified information. Recent events have shown that the level of the position of an individual who mishandles the information plays a large part in the punishment of