Hundreds of thousands of secret American reports have appeared on the internet about the Russia-Ukraine War. South Korea is in the news. Apparently, the US is taking South Korean artillery shells and sending them to Ukraine.

A 21-year-old named US National Guard soldier Jack Texeira was responsible for the leak. The question arises: why was such a young soldier in possession of such sensitive information?

The US government suffers from elephantiasis. The security apparatus has become too big. Too many people know that they should not. Many of them are contractors. Some of them are people in junior positions without the maturity or judgment to handle sensitive information. The need to know principle has been thrown out of the window. There is now a systemic problem in the US intelligence establishment.

The Texeira case is a farce. Sadly, it is a serious farce. Texeira released the documents on a social media site called Discord to impress his computer gaming buddies. In intelligence circles, MICE is an acronym used to summarize motivations for people lured to commit treason. MICE stands for money, ideology, compromise and ego. In Texeira’s case, his juvenile ego seems to be at blame.

These leaks create a problem. Everyone spies on everyone else. It is useful for the US to know what the South Koreans are saying to the Japanese. It is useful for Russia to know that China is discussing with the US. However, when revelations of spying come out, protests inevitably follow and so does a cooling off period. Texeira’s leaks have put South Korea in an awkward position.

The leaks will lead to a brief chill in US relations with South Korea and other allies. After a while, things will go back to normal. Regular spying business will resume. The more important fallout of Texeira’s leaks is that foreign intelligence sources will figure out who is leaking information to the US. In some countries, US sources will die.

The US national security establishment now uses thousands of contractors. The Intelligence Community (IC) employs over 45,000 of them and the Department of Defense a number north of a whopping 561,000. The Top Secret security clearance is now handed out to too many people, a ridiculous 1.2 million non-career intelligence officers. This means that leaks are inevitable and US national security is under threat.

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