The CIA And Social Media

Social Media Pose New Riddle for CIA -- Wall Street Journal

Effective spycraft has long called for cover—a job, family or routine that would keep a government agent from drawing undue attention. Now, that calculation extends to spies' use of social media.

Only in the past few years has the Central Intelligence Agency issued standardized guidelines on how to use social media, according to one former intelligence official. The line these guidelines draw appears to be thin: Revealing too much on Facebook and Twitter risks tipping too much to the other side. But given that social media use is becoming ubiquitous, revealing too little could also arouse suspicion.

"Technology is changing the spy business in so many different ways," the ex-intelligence official said. "It's very easy to find out a lot of information about people."

The question of how much a spy should divulge online became a touch less theoretical this week after Russia unmasked what it said was an American spy—saying it had detained Ryan C. Fogle, a junior political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, amid what it alleged was an effort to recruit a Russian officer.

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My Comment: On the flip side .... social media is source of data and info for the intelligence community.