Americans learned last week that the CIA has tools that can hack smartphones, computer operating systems, message apps, Wi-Fi networks. That blockbuster revelation came courtesy of WikiLeaks, the organization last in the headlines for its role in the purported Russian leaking of emails to tilt the Nov. 8 election to President Trump.
First reaction: We sure hope the CIA has those abilities, given that terrorists around the world need to communicate somehow.
Second reaction: That doesn’t mean we want the world to know how the CIA does its job. WikiLeaks’ publishing of the CIA’s spying methods is a reprehensible trespass on American security. Under the guise of internet security or privacy or whatever phony justification WikiLeaks claims, the secret-busting organization now hands over the CIA’s master keys to cyber criminals, spies and other foreign malefactors. One former intelligence officer said that disclosure, if genuine, likely would disrupt or halt ongoing U.S. intelligence operations.
From the Department of Cold Comfort: WikiLeaks says its wasn’t publishing details that could be used to replicate America’s cyber tools.
Third reaction: What a huge embarrassment. The agency devoted to learning and protecting secrets apparently fumbled an invaluable hacking arsenal. The CIA should launch a full-scale investigation to learn who stole this information and how. By all means, let’s have a debate. But the correct place for that is in Congress, behind closed doors to protect secrets that can – and now will – be exploited by America’s enemies. Now more than ever, you can include Julian Assange and his WikiLeaks co-conspirators in that camp.
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