Clapper defends private contractors as ‘integral part’ of intel community

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper sought to reassure the nation’s private contractors, calling them an “integral part” of the intelligence community in the wake of leaks revealing the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance programs.

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s leaking of classified information detailing phone and Internet monitoring has brought added scrutiny to the role of civilian contractors working in U.S. intelligence agencies.

{mosads}In a government-wide message, Clapper assured contractors that blowback from the NSA leaks would not affect them and praised their work on intelligence operations.

“Contractors are an integral part of our workforce and are critical to our national security efforts,” Clapper said in the message, according to Reuters.

“No matter what color badge you wear, you prove every day how much you care about our nation,” the intelligence chief added.

Snowden had been working for three months as a contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton when he leaked details of two top-secret NSA surveillance programs to the media.

One of the programs Snowden revealed collects cellphone data from Verizon customers to track terror threats, while a second program, PRISM, pulls data from tech companies on foreign Internet users.

The case sparked questions about how a 29-year-old with a GED certificate who left the Army Reserves after less than five months could have had access to such sensitive material.

It has also created concerns on Capitol Hill over how private contractors with the intelligence community are vetted, and how much insight are they allowed into highly classified intelligence programs.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said Tuesday those concerns will surely prompt a number of oversight hearings.

The classified leaks of NSA programs has left the Fort Meade, Md., community “reeling,” said Mikulski, referring to the Army installation that is home to the spy agency’s headquarters.

“People are asking, why does a kid who couldn’t make it through a community college make $200 grand a year and be exposed to some of our most significant secrets?” she said during Tuesday’s Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee hearing.

Mikulski said the Senate would “have a lot of hearings on this.”

But many intelligence experts fear it will be difficult — if not impossible — to impose control on a system in which 1.4 million people now have some kind of clearance to see classified information.

“There are going to be people, for whatever reason, [that] do the unpredictable,” Professional Services Council President and former Pentagon official Stan Soloway told The Hill on Monday.

Soloway said even if the system is overhauled, little can be done to thwart whistle-blowers like Snowden and Bradley Manning, who shared secret information with WikiLeaks.

“Any system cannot be 100 percent foolproof to predict a change of heart,” Soloway said. “You cannot expect perfection.”

The Justice Department has launched a criminal probe into the leaks and may seek to extradite Snowden from Hong Kong, where he fled, and prosecute him.

While some civil libertarians have praised Snowden’s actions, the leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence panels said the disclosures endangered national security.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Snowden’s actions were treasonable.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday called the NSA leaker a “traitor.”