Spy chiefs tell Congress that leaked secrets are a bigger risk than international terrorism [View all]

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http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-worldwide-threats-20140130,0,2507629.story

Report puts Snowden-like leaks as the No. 2 threat to U.S. security
For the first time, spy chiefs tell Congress that cyber theft and leaked secrets are a bigger risk than international terrorism.
By Ken Dilanian
January 29, 2014, 4:53 p.m.

WASHINGTON — Insiders like Edward Snowden who leak secrets about sensitive U.S. intelligence programs pose a potentially greater danger to national security than terrorists, America's spy chiefs warned Wednesday in their annual report to Congress on global security risks.

For the first time, the risk of unauthorized disclosures of classified material and state-sponsored theft of data was listed as the second-greatest potential threat to America in a review of global perils prepared by the U.S. intelligence community. The risk followed cyber attacks on crucial infrastructure but was listed ahead of international terrorism.

U.S. officials previously have said it will cost billions of dollars to repair or revamp communications surveillance systems in the wake of the disclosures by Snowden, a former contract employee at a National Security Agency listening post in Hawaii who began leaking classified documents to the media in June and who later fled to Russia.

Appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said the leaks represent the "most damaging theft of intelligence information in our history." He urged Snowden to return the material, saying he made "the nation less safe and its people less secure."