Intelligence Agencies Don’t Want Intelligent Employees
With the growing prominence of information technologies (IT) in the home and work place, individuals spend an increasing proportion of time engaging in computer-mediated activities and communications. Many computer-mediated activities provide opportunities for individuals to behave in ways different than they might in brick-and-mortar contexts, including opportunities to present oneself in a light different than that of one’s true identity and to act anonymously in relatively consequence-free environments.
From the perspective of personnel security, cyber-behavior represents an emerging area of behavior that should be considered as an important part of the adjudication process for granting security clearances for personnel working in national security positions. To address these challenges, adjudication policies must be modernized to incorporate a better understanding of the type and frequency of personnel IT activities. This necessitates identifying which specific cyber-behaviors are normative, acceptable, or favorable as well as identifying those that may be associated with risky or problematic cyber behavior within the workplace.
Areas of potential interest include, but are not limited to: social network usage; disclosure of information in computer-mediated activities; extent of on-line contact with foreign nationals; cyber behavior that suggests an unwillingness to abide by rules; compulsive internet use; involvement in computer groups (especially those allied to stigmatized practices); providing false information within computer-mediated communications about oneself or others; procurement and distribution of pirated materials; engaging in deviant cyber-behaviors with the intention of causing harm to others including “hacking” and sabotage.
So, essentially, people who like to use computers to share information with other intelligent people, who display dogged task focus and outside-the-box thinking are the kind of people we want to avoid hiring for intelligence work? Somehow, that doesn’t sound right to me.