Blogs leak FBI secrets

FBI secrets have been leaked via online blogs

The FBI, one of the world’s most reputable and powerful intelligence agencies, was put on the defensive this week, when it was revealed that a translator working for the department had access to confidential files and leaked these to an anonymous blogger. At the centre of the FBI blogging scandal is Shamai Leibowitz, who worked on a contract basis as a linguist for America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation. But what the professionals at the FBI curiously overlooked was the linguist’s less than innocuous past. As an Israeli citizen and lawyer, Leibowitz went as far as to leak information on a judge in his home country, resulting in his immediate dismissal. Even more troubling for the FBI is how they could have possibly missed the warning signs, when a simple Google search reveals controversial aspects of Leibowitz’s past, most of which would disqualify him for work involving a top secret security clearance.

According to media reports, Leibowitz has lodged a guilty plea for leaking five separate FBI documents to an unidentified blogger, during his tenure as Hebrew interpreter for the FBI. But a quick Google research would have made it perfectly clear to the FBI that verbal political activism is what they could expect from Leibowitz. The Israeli lawyer had published blogs and articles on the most controversial and polarizing topics, including one call written as a blogger in which he encouraged soldiers in Israel to refuse to service in the occupied Palestinian Territories.

Davin Schoen was just one of the American lawyers interviewed by journalists, who labelled the hiring of someone by the FBI with such a potentially risky past as bizarre. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Schoen noted that Leibowitz was not only a dual citizen—which often alone sounds alarm bells—but he was clearly a “character” with strong, controversial opinions and who knew how to use and manipulate blogs.