Technology

Can feds read Pentagon Papers?

Federal employees are banned from reading WikiLeaks. But does this ban apply to the Pentagon Papers too?

Federal News Network Staff

January 18, 2011 3:01 pm

< a min read

In the wake of WikiLeaks, the government prohibited feds from reading the leaks. So does that ban extend to other leaked documents like the Pentagon Papers?

The simple answer is yes, according to the National Security Archive blog. The blog is not part of the National Security Agency.

The Pentagon Papers are still considered classified. Since they are still top secret, the federal government’s recent pronouncement — that “unauthorized disclosures of classified documents do not alter the documents’ classified status or automatically result in declassification of the documents — the documents are off limits to feds.”

Unredacted reports, if this standard holds true, government employees should not be allowed to read (or reference, or cite) the Pentagon papers either.

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