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State Dept. suspends officer’s Top Secret clearance over writings

UPDATE: Diplopundit posts the redactions the State Department has demanded from Van Buren’s book, highlighting the alleged “unauthorized disclosure of classified information.” Foreign Service Officer Peter Van Buren had his Top Secret clearance suspended today and his diplomatic passport impounded. He was asked to turn the materials over at the State Department’s offices in Rosslyn, […]

UPDATE: Diplopundit posts the redactions the State Department has demanded from Van Buren’s book, highlighting the alleged “unauthorized disclosure of classified information.”

Foreign Service Officer Peter Van Buren had his Top Secret clearance suspended today and his diplomatic passport impounded. He was asked to turn the materials over at the State Department’s offices in Rosslyn, Va., right over the river from D.C. He was also asked to sign a department letter explaining that his clearance (read: livelihood) was being placed on suspension because of his “unwillingness” to comply with rules and regulations regarding  “articles and blog postings,” which “raises serious security concerns” making his access to classified material  inconsistent “with the national security interests of the United States.” Basically, he did not get his personal published work and media appearances cleared with public affairs ahead of time. Also, the letter read, Van Buren’s “judgment in handling protected information is questionable.”

Haven’t heard of Van Buren? He’s written an invaluable chronicle of his time on a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Iraq. The book is unsparing in its description of what went on there, which, according to Van Buren and a closet full of audits, reviews and enterprising news reports, was billions of money wasted in the pursuit of rebuilding Iraq in our own image. We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People was released last month and has been causing quite a stir — especially at the State Department. As it should — it is really the first of its kind from a PRT’s point of view, and undermines the whole idea that we could wreck a country and rebuild it at the same time. In a way, after reading Van Buren’s account, it undermines the very idea that we actually cared about the Iraqi people at all.

Van Buren, who has been in full disillusion mode since returning from Iraq in 2010, has been promoting his book and writing a daily Weblog, which has given the department more ammunition to come after him. His linking to a Wikileaked “confidential” department cable in August didn’t help. Turns out that is what they are hanging their hat on, as well as claiming his book has printed classified information (they are demanding redactions, sound familiar?) and his blog postings and articles not vetted. The big guns, however, came out today. I was there with Van Buren this morning. More posted at  Antiwar.com.

 

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