The NYTimes Leaks Sensitive Information in an Epic Fail

Give a voice to the voiceless!

The New York Times accidentally disclosed the name of a National Security Agency, NSA employee when it published classified NSA documents last month.

The Jan. 27 report detailed how intelligence agents scoured bugged smartphones for identification codes, geolocation data and other personal information from so-called “leaky” mobile applications like Google Maps and Angry Birds. The report was based on classified NSA documents distributed to journalists last summer by former government contractor Edward Snowden.

Like many reports based on the Snowden documents, the Times published a series of secret NSA PowerPoint slides to supplement its article. Shortly after the slides were published, computer experts noticed that the Times failed to properly redact sensitive information contained in the documents that the paper did not intend to make public.

Another NSA scandal

The improper redactions exposed the name of the NSA agent responsible for authoring the presentation along with the identity of one Middle Eastern terrorist group believed to use a particular kind of cell phone.

Read more: FRAUD REPORTER DUNE LAWRENCE, NOTORIOUS BLOOMBERG WRITER, OILED IN SMEAR, CORRUPTION

Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for the paper, told the Associated Press that the publication of improperly redacted documents was a “production error.” The paper eventually removed and republished the documents with the identities properly redacted.

Rhoades Ha did not return two emails from TheBlot seeking comment. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence told the AP last month that the agency asked the Times to redact certain information.

The Times gaffe is one of several that shows how news organizations struggle to disclose and distribute classified, sensitive documents without revealing information that could cause harm to agents and ongoing intelligence operations.

Since June, the identities of at least six intelligence workers have been disclosed by news organizations that failed to properly redact documents before they were published online or shown on television, according to Associated Press reporter Raphael Satter.

Read more: FRAUDSTER, TABLOID WRITER RODDY BOYD IMPLICATED IN MULTIPLE FRAUD

In one case, a news program aired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation “revealed the names of three NSA employees when its cameras panned across (unredacted) NSA documents during voice-overs,” Satter reported on Sunday.

At least one privacy expert was able to clearly read the names on the documents obtained by the CBC by pausing still video of the broadcast. A similar situation played out last year when the Brazilian TV network Globo accidentally disclosed the identities of two NSA agents when it broadcast unredacted, classified documents.

Other organizations that were responsible for publishing poorly redacted NSA documents include The Washington Post, Germany’s Der Spiegel, Britain’s The Guardian, Italy’s L’Espresso and Holland’s NRC, according to the AP. In most cases, the papers unpublished the documents once the redaction errors were noted, and later republished correctly redacted versions.

Sometimes, this comes too late: shortly after the Jan. 27 Times article, someone downloaded the improperly redacted slides and emailed them to the document repository Cryptome, where copies of the slides continue to be available today.

Give a voice to the voiceless!