Unauthorized Disclosure: Can Behavioral Indicators Help Predict Who Will Commit Unauthorized Disclosure of Classified National Security Information?
Abstract : Federal government security-cleared personnel have been disclosing federal government classified national security information, whether to a foreign government or the United States media, at an increasing rate since the 1980s. Can common personal or psychological characteristics or motivations be identified from historical cases that could indicate the likelihood of a current or potential federal employee to disclose national security information without authorization? Reasons for unauthorized disclosure range from financial, to whistle-blowing, to a desire to change international policy, to sympathy and strong ties with a foreign government. The focus of this research is on the behavioral characteristics that are similar or different between known, studied historical cases of personnel associated with the federal government who have disclosed classified information without authorization. Upon review of existing data, the prevalent behavioral characteristic of the cases is one of a disgruntled employee (ideology/disillusionment/loyalty). A disgruntled employee becomes the largest concern as an insider threat, one who is willing to compromise his or her feelings of loyalty to the organization and the nation for a myriad of reasons.
Nightmover: How Aldrich Ames Sold the CIA to the KGB for $4.6 Million
Draws on CIA sources to trace the career of convicted spy Aldrich Ames and the agency's record of incompetence, which allowed Ames to keep his position for nine years.
Climatology of the cusp-related thermospheric mass density anomaly, as derived from CHAMP observations
We report on the thermospheric mass density anomaly in the vicinity of the ionospheric cusp. A systematic survey of the anomalies is presented, based on a statistical analysis of 4 years of data (2002–2005) obtained by the accelerometer onboard CHAMP. The anomalies are detected during all years and seasons in both hemispheres but with stronger signatures in the Northern Hemisphere. For the same geophysical conditions, solar flux and geomagnetic activity the anomalies in the north are larger by a factor of about 1.35. Over the course of the survey period the amplitude decreases by more than a factor of 5 while the level of solar flux reduces by a factor of 2. The anomaly strength also depends on the solar wind input. The merging electric field, E merg , is generally enhanced for about an hour before the anomaly detection. There is a quadratic response of the anomaly amplitude to E merg . For geophysical conditions of P10.7 E merg E merg , where the weight of E merg , in mV/m, is by about 50 times higher than that of the solar flux level. The solar zenith angle and the influence of particle precipitation are found to play a minor role as a controlling parameter of seasonal variation. The well-known annual variation of the thermospheric density with a minimum around June also influences the formation of the cusp anomalies. This leads to a clear hemispheric asymmetry with very weak anomalies in the south during June solstice, which is supposed to be a combined effect of the minimum in annual variation and the seasonal decrease of solar insolation in this region.