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■ International
Outsourcing intelligence
情資外包
Leaks concerning US spy programs
highlight troubling role of private contractors
美國偵伺計畫洩密突顯民間包商使人感到困擾的角色 |
|
People like Edward
Snowden — nearly 500,000 employees of private firms with access
to the U.S. government's most sensitive secrets — play a crucial
role in the U.S. intelligence community: They help monitor
threats to national security. |
像愛德華史諾登的人──即近五十萬名任職於可以接觸到美國政府最敏感機密民間企業的雇員──在美國情報界扮演一個很重要的角色：他們幫忙偵防國家安全威脅 |
| When Snowden, an employee of one of those
firms, Booz Allen Hamilton, leaked details of two National
Security Agency surveillance programs to the media, he
spotlighted the risks of making so many employees of private
contractors a key part of the U.S. intelligence apparatus. James
Clapper, the director of U.S. national intelligence, called
Snowden's leak "gut-wrenching." |
史諾登是這些公司中的布斯艾倫漢彌頓公司的雇員。他向媒體揭露美國國家安全局的兩項偵防計畫，這突顯了一點，就是把民間包商那麼多雇員納入美國的情報體系中，是帶有風險的。美國國家情報總監詹姆斯克拉伯說，
史諾登洩密，讓人感到「心情沉重」。 |
| The leak could lead the U.S.' intelligence
agencies to reconsider their reliance on outside contractors,
said Joseph Augustyn, a former senior CIA official and principal
at Booz Allen. "I think it will call into question the role of
the defense contractors," Augustyn said. |
前中央情報局資深官員，布斯艾倫漢彌頓主管之一的約瑟夫奧古斯汀說，這次洩密事件，可能促使美國情報機關檢討它們對包商的依賴。他說：「我想，這也將使國防包商扮演的角色受到質疑。」 |
| Booz Allen provides consulting services,
technology support and analysis to U.S. government agencies and
departments. Last year, 98 percent of the company's US$5.9
billion (approximately NT$178 billion) in revenue came from U.S.
government contracts. Three-fourths of its 25,000 employees hold
government security clearances. Half the employees have top
secret clearances. |
布斯艾倫漢彌頓公司向美國政府部會提供顧問服務，技術和分析支援。去年該公司五十九億美元（約新台幣一千七百八十億元）的營收中，百分之九十八來自政府合約。這家公司兩萬五千名雇員中，四分之三有政府安全許可，半數
已取得接觸最高機密的許可。 |
| The reliance on contractors for intelligence
work ballooned after the 9/11 attacks. The U.S. scrambled to
improve and expand its ability to monitor the communication and
movement of people who might threaten another attack. "After
9/11, intelligence budgets were increased, new people needed to
be hired," Augustyn said. "It was a lot easier to go to the
private sector and get people off the shelf." |
九一一恐怖攻擊發生後，在情報工作方面對包商的依賴大增。美國匆匆忙忙的改善及提升偵伺可能策畫另一次攻擊人的相互聯絡和行動。奧古斯汀說：「九一一之後，情報預算增加了，得雇用新人。
到民間單位找人從事這些工作容易多了。」 |
| But critics say reliance on contractors is
both costly and dangerous. By outsourcing intelligence work to
an army of private workers, these critics say the U.S. has
reduced transparency and left itself extremely vulnerable to the
kind of large-scale security breach that Snowden managed to
achieve. |
但論者認為，依賴包商，不但很花錢，而且也危險。他們說，美國把情報工作外包給任何一支民間團隊，結果降低了透明度，同時也使情報工作容易受大規模的洩密行動──如
史諾登搞出來的洩密事件──打擊。 |
| "It's very difficult to know what contractors
are doing and what they are billing for the work — or even
whether they should be performing the work at all," said Scott
Amey, an expert in contractor oversight and government
transparency at the Project on Government Oversight, a
non-partisan government accountability organization based in
Washington, D.C. "It has muddied the waters." |
政府監督計畫是設在華府的一個跨黨派政府監督組織，該組織的合約監管及政府透明度問題專家史考特艾梅說：「很難知道包商在幹什麼以及他們要求什麼工作報酬，甚至這種工作是不是該讓他們做
也很難說。這一切搞得更複雜模糊了。」 |
