Reply #52: You're not alone

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I was in a similar set of circumstances and faced the same ethical dilemmas. It is not any easy choice to remain silent upon seeing something that may be relevant to public dialogue. The system for addressing improperly classified information exists for a reason, and it works more often than not.

Many people are unaware that much of what is classified is protected not because of the information itself but because of how it was obtained. Classified facts themselves may seem trivial and unsurprising, especially if we see it repeated on the evening news. However, knowing what we know is a major indicator of how we know it (or, in professional parlance, the intelligence sources and methods). A fact may be classified not to protect the fact itself but to protect a source. An adversary can take countermeasures if it knows how we collect intelligence.

The most important reason for protecting classified information is to preserve the lives of our confidential sources.

I agree with you. What PFC Bradley Manning did was wrong, and it is right that he should be tried before a court martial for it. Everyone who handles classified data has a duty to report improper classifications, but they also have a duty to safeguard the lives of our sources.