The culture of US government leaks to the media, in the context of Manchester

Britain's Defence Secretary Michael Fallon (L) and Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson leave Downing Street in central London on May 25, 2017.
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May said Thursday she would raise the issue of leaks from a probe into the Manchester terror attack that have infuriated British authorities with their US counterparts. Speaking ahead of her departure for a NATO summit in Brussels, May said she would "make clear to President (Donald) Trump that intelligence which is shared between our law enforcement agencies must remain secure".
/ AFP PHOTO / Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS (Photo credit should read DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images)

In light of American officials leaking intelligence to the media, the United Kingdom has decided to stop sharing Manchester-related intelligence with the U.S.

It’s unclear which U.S. officials released information Monday about the suspected Manchester bomber, or whether it came from an intelligence or political agency. Today, Trump asked the Justice Department and other agencies to review the matter and stopper the flow of leaks.

We discuss what happened, and look at the culture of leaks within the U.S. government. What are the incentives or motivations for leakage? What are the potential repercussions of the United Kingdom’s decision on intelligence gathering?

Guests:

Phil Ewing, national security editor for NPR; he tweets

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R.P. Eddy, CEO of the New York-based intelligence firm Ergo; former director at the White House National Security Council, as well as a former U.S. and U.N. senior diplomat; he is the co-author of the book, “Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes” (Ecco, 2017) and tweets

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