When a document leak happens, it’s important to understand the steps needed to mitigate the damage. The process starts with understanding how the leak happened, and where it has spread (whether on a public platform or within an internal inbox). From there, it’s about containing the leak, and trying to prevent it from spreading further. This may involve requesting takedowns, revoking access permissions or monitoring ongoing activity in systems or inboxes.
The leaking of highly classified US documents has shaken the government and rattled allies across the globe. But it’s far from the first time classified information has made its way into the hands of outsiders.
One of the most famous leaks in US history came from Chelsea Manning, who in 2010 gave a trove of military documents to Wikileaks – and then saw them published by major news organisations. The documents were about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the trove was later referred to as “The Pentagon Papers.”
More recently, an Air Force member and translator for the NSA, Reality Winner, was arrested after giving a report to The Intercept detailing how Russia was targeting local election officials in a bid to interfere with the 2016 US presidential race. The report was then posted online.
Those kinds of incidents highlight how hard it is to stop leaks from happening. A longtime aide to the Justice Department once said, “The government’s track record in controlling classified information is so poor that the whole system perpetuates the idea that nothing can be done about leaks.” But that hasn’t stopped a steady stream of leaks from impacting US policy and the reputation of the country abroad.