The Social Network Killed the Social Contract
April 14, 2023 - Intelligence in the age of the Internet
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Onto our regularly scheduled post….
In the fall, I teach “Foreign Policy in the Time of the Internet.” (At Bard, for those of you just joining…) On the first day, before we dive into all things cyber and social media, I have my students read up on power and world order. Among the things that I zero in on is how information has changed in our digital age — and how that, more than anything, has changed everything.
How it’s changed is the ultimate takeaway: When it comes to information, we’ve gone from being an audience to participants.
Following the headlines about leaked documents on the war in Ukraine this week, I have to add: “and the participants have killed the social contract.”
Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that the leaker is a “young, charismatic gun enthusiast,” who had been active in an invitation-only online gaming platform, Discord. Known as “OG” (he has since been identified as Jack Teixeira), he first started transcribing highly classified information and posting it on the site months ago. When that became “too tiresome, he began posting hundreds of photos of documents themselves.” He did so, the WP notes, not as a whistleblower but because OG saw the government as a “sinister force that sought to suppress its citizens and keep them in the dark.”
That’s what’s troubling.
No doubt, this incident, once again, sheds a light on the need to reconsider how we curate and disseminate intelligence. To start, not everything merits a classification. Over-classification just erodes the importance of the things that merit it.
Officials should also reassess the wisdom of including intelligence sources. Do policy and decision makers reading classified material need to know whether the intel was HUMINT, human intelligence, or SIGINT, signals intelligence (through intercepted communications)? A friend who used to work in intel says probably not. What they need to know is that the intel is solid. Providing detail on the sources and methods of the collection methodology outside of very limited channels jeopardizes intelligence gathering.
Finally, officials need to get Mission Impossible about how intelligence is disseminated — eliminate paper. Intelligence documents should only be viewed electronically on government devices that wipe out the intel once viewed. Bonus: it’s also good for the environment. 🌍
Back to what I think is troubling: OG’s mindset.
We’re living in a time where likes and virality have become an addiction, while responsibility and consequences have become an afterthought. Our age of participation, aka the social network, has increased the desire to be seen and heard and, ironically, reduced conversation. As a result, there is a race to get on a soapbox to crow about and defend INSERT YOUR ISSUE HERE, but little consideration for understanding, much less compromise. No wonder trust, whether in government, business, the media, and society has eroded. Trust cannot exist on its own, it needs community.
So do each of us.
As a result, more and more of us isolate into echo chambers. Discord is one of those chambers, where OG felt kinship with the dozen or so individuals in the group. There are millions more. It is imperative that intelligence agencies rethink their approach towards classified documents. It is also imperative to recognize that in the age of the Internet, where the social network runs supreme, the social contract has collapsed. We can guard classified information. How do we guard against a society where every “person” is for him/herself/themselves?
— Elmira
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Editorial Team
Elmira Bayrasli - Editor-in-Chief
Editors:
Rasmiia Abasova
Samantha Felman
Pin-Shan Lai
Catherine Lovizio
Emily Smith