Unauthorized Disclosures and Press Publication of Classified Intelligence Information: a Case Study

The press regularly publishes classified intelligence information leaked to them by those with authorized access and varied motives. This information, to an adversary, is held to a standard equivalent to information gathered through standard espionage tradecraft. Traditionally, leaks had disclosed elements of a single programs but, given advances in technology, today leaks to the press entail the unauthorized disclosure of, at times, millions of classified documents on a myriad of topics. In 2013, Mr. Edward Snowden gave at least 1.7 million highly classified U.S. and intelligence documents to the press. The problem to be addressed in this study are the impacts to U.S. intelligence from the unauthorized bulk disclosure of classified intelligence information from Edward Snowden to the press including, but not limited to, revealing intelligence sources and methods, capabilities, loss of intelligence liaisons and accesses to territories essential for U.S. national security. The purpose of this single-case, holistic study was to examine the impacts to U.S. intelligence from Edward Snowden's unauthorized bulk disclosure of classified intelligence information to the press that may include, but may not be limited to, U.S. Intelligence sources and methods, capabilities, liaisons, and accesses to territories essential for U.S national security. The sample was the leaked, published, classified U.S. intelligence documents. Quantitative research, specifically a single-case, holistic study, was conducted using an examination of the leaked and published classified intelligence information and expert assessments of the national security impact. The study revealed significant impacts to U.S. and allied intelligence agencies and national security as a whole. Mosaic-making, on the part of the press, validated long-standing axioms and provided additional insight into the underdeveloped Mosaic Theory.