Lately, it feels like our federal government is telling everybody about American actions that are usually treated as secret activities, involving foreign nations. Why are these stories being leaked, and how dangerous is it for these leaks to occur?  

A leak often is done to score a political gain or enhance a political position, by one side, in a contest. But some leaks of secrets can put people’s lives at risk.

Businesses often keep secrets, because trade secrets give them an edge in product development, marketing ideas or pricing information strategies. These need to be kept confidential for competitive survival. In private life, a person’s secrets involve their right to privacy. Privacy rights protect our personal thoughts and plans. Exposure can put us in harm’s way or cause us embarrassment, by publicly revealing that confidential information.

Now we have a different kind of leak, involving several stories about confidential national intelligence events, that Rep. Peter King, R-NY, alleges were leaked by President Obama’s White House campaign staff. King claims they were leaked in order to benefit Obama’s political image as a strong foreign policy leader, for the November presidential election. Three main leaks in question were the so-called Kill List, cyber warfare attacks on Iran’s nuclear program; and the White House working with a movie producer on the Osama bin Laden killing.

The White House claims that these were not politically inspired leaks, but in a rare bi-partisan effort, a number of Democratic, as well as Republican lawmakers, asked for a special counsel to be appointed to investigate leaks to newspapers on our top secret drone programs, the prevention of an Al Qaida terrorist plot and the U.S. and Israel collaboration on cyber attacks against Iran.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder, who is already being criticized because of the Operation Fast and Furious gun case, has appointed two U.S. attorneys to investigate unauthorized leaks on classified security programs. But some Republicans think Holden may have a conflict of interest on this issue, if the leaks were approved by someone in the President’s White House inner circle.

President Obama has stated that allegations about White House officials leaking classified information are “offensive” and he would not condone such actions. Many people, including me, do not believe the President would release classified information that would hurt or affect the security of our country.

Senator John McCain, R-Arizona, said this week that these leaks were “irresponsible.” David Axelrod, Obama’s head campaign strategist, admitted on ABC’s This Week that there were leaks, but said that the President would not condone any leaks whatsoever.

Sometimes a leak serves a truly important purpose, by letting the public know about an illegal or unethical act, such as the Watergate break-in scandal. Others, such as the release of secret data by WikiLeaks, can be extremely damaging to a nation, and the people involved in the leaked activity, without conveying much benefit. 

WikiLeaks violated the safety of our country’s security secrets on national defense, as well as our foreign relations with our allies. It gave away secret information to the news media about our foreign agents, private communications and economic and political strategies developed with our foreign allies in dealing with other countries. 

WikiLeaks has continued to make many thousands of classified government documents public since 2008. These include private e-mails and U.S. State Department diplomatic cables. When this was done, people’s lives were put in danger. American and friendly foreign countries’ agents, diplomats and involved citizens mentioned in the leaked documents were put at risk.

In the case of the latest leaks, we need to know why they happened, and what, if any, public purpose was intended to be served. If leaks are made so that the public can become aware of government trickery or criminal actions, that is one thing. If leaks are made for political enhancement, that is a different matter, which is hard to justify.

The countries and individuals who support and work with us need to be able to trust our government agencies to protect them.  We must not lightly violate that trust. At a minimum, leaks should not put individuals at risk of grave danger.

We do need an investigation into what happened and why. We also need to focus on how to reduce the risks of inappropriate leaks.

— Bernard Featherman is a business columnist for the Journal Tribune and former president of the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce.