米機密漏洩事件 問われる情報管理のずさんさ

The Yomiuri Shimbun July 9, 2013
U.S. information leakage shows sloppiness in managing secrets
米機密漏洩事件　問われる情報管理のずさんさ（7月8日付・読売社説）

A single individual has shaken up the world.
　ひとりの男が世界中を揺るがしている。

The individual is Edward Snowden, a former systems analyst with the U.S. National Security Agency whom the NSA has accused of illegally gathering and spreading information.
　米国家安全保障局（ＮＳＡ）が違法な通信情報収集をしていると告発したスノーデン容疑者のことだ。

Snowden has asked 26 countries in South America, Europe and other regions for political asylum, but he has been stuck in the transit zone of Moscow’s international airport for as long as two weeks.
南米や欧州などの２６か国に亡命申請し、２週間もモスクワの空港で待機している。

In Hong Kong a month ago, the 30-year-old former systems analyst leaked to major U.S. and British newspapers that the NSA, using a surveillance and monitoring system it built in strict secrecy, was gathering a large amount of information from e-mails, Internet phone conversations and online video sites.
　スノーデン氏は香港に滞在していた１か月前、ＮＳＡが、極秘に構築した監視・傍受システムを使って、電子メールやネット電話、動画サイトの情報を大量に収集していると英米紙に暴露した。

Veil of secrecy

Regarding his motivation for revealing NSA’s global monitoring activities, Snowden, who was not a regular NSA official but an employee with one of its contractors, told the media his conscience did not allow him to remain idle while the privacy of a huge number of individuals was being infringed upon.
　ＮＳＡ職員ではなく、契約請負企業で働いていた民間人だが、個人のプライバシーが侵害されるのを見て、「良心が許さなかった」と、告発の動機を語っている。

The NSA is an intelligence organization shrouded in secrecy. It has facilities around the world, including Japan.
　ＮＳＡは、秘密のベールに包まれた情報機関だ。日本を含む世界各地に施設を保有している。

Even so, we cannot help but feel astounded that the U.S. government’s confidential information can be divulged by an individual in the private sector so nonchalantly.
　それにしても、民間人が機密情報をかくも容易に漏洩(ろうえい)できたことには驚くしかない。

For the purpose of processing the immense amount of information they have collected, U.S. intelligence agencies have reportedly entrusted the task to an increasing number of private-sector IT companies. As a result, the number of people in the private sector who have access to top U.S. government secrets is said to be about 500,000.
　米情報機関では、膨大な情報の処理のため民間企業への委託が増え、最高機密にアクセス可能な民間人は約５０万人に上るという。

Only three years ago, a U.S. Army private first class leaked a large amount of U.S. diplomatic information to the WikiLeaks whistle-blowing site. More than 250,000 pieces of information were leaked.
　米国では３年前にも、陸軍上等兵が内部告発サイト、ウィキリークスに大量の米外交公電を流し、２５万点以上がそのまま公開される事件があったばかりだ。

The sloppiness of the U.S. government’s information management must be questioned.
　米政府の情報管理のずさんさは問われなければならない。

The administration of President Barack Obama has charged Snowden on a number of counts, including violation of the anti-espionage law, calling for countries concerned to cooperate in handing him over to the United States. This action shows how grave the impact the Snowden case has had on the U.S. government. Washington is apparently doing its best to prevent further confidential information from being divulged.
　オバマ政権は、スノーデン氏をスパイ防止法違反容疑などで訴追し、関係国に身柄の引き渡しへの協力を要請した。米国が受けた衝撃の大きさを物語る。さらなる機密の流出を防ぎたいのだろう。

As this is the age of Internet, gigantic amounts of electronic information travel around the world. The Internet traffic has mostly been through the servers of major U.S. telecommunication firms.
　ネット時代の今日、大量の電子情報が世界を飛び交っている。その多くは、米大手通信会社のサーバーを経由している。

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, U.S. efforts for beefing up Internet surveillance activities with cooperation from telecommunication firms with the aim of preventing terrorist activities has been an open secret.
　米政府が２００１年９月の同時テロ後、テロ防止の目的で、通信会社の協力を得てネット監視を強化したのは公然の秘密だった。

Protect whistle-blowers

The question is whether the widespread monitoring operations are conducted legally.
　問題は、それが合法的に行われているのか、ということだ。

Obama recently went on record as saying the surveillance activities, with the cooperation of telecommunications companies, are “completely legal” and are necessary to protect Americans from terrorist attacks.
　オバマ大統領は、「合法的で、テロから国民を保護する必要な措置」と述べ、正当性を強調した。

The NSA chief stressed the usefulness of the surveillance activities by saying in congressional testimony that the agency has successfully thwarted “more than 50 cases” of terrorist attacks in more than 20 countries.
ＮＳＡ長官は議会で、「世界２０か国以上で５０件を超すテロ計画を阻止した」と有用性を述べた。

However justifiable the purpose for surveillance may be, information-gathering operations lacking appropriate constraints could lead to the abuse of power.
　いくら目的が正当でも、適切な歯止めを欠いた情報収集活動は権力乱用につながる恐れがある。

Snowden failed to abide by procedures stipulated for in-house whistle-blowing. He may or may not have feared that he could be ignored and arrested.
　スノーデン氏は、所定の内部告発手続きを踏まなかった。無視され、逮捕されることを恐れたのかどうか。

To stem the divulgence of information, it is also important to protect whistle-blowers.
情報流出の阻止には、内部告発者を保護する仕組みが機能することも重要である。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 8, 2013)
（2013年7月8日01時42分  読売新聞）