Students at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs were warned by a State Department employee this week that discussing the controversial secret leaking website WikiLeaks on Facebook or Twitter could bar them from future employment options.
The message, sent by an alum of the school stated that:
“engaging in these activities would call into question [a student’s] ability to deal with confidential information, which is part of most positions with the federal government.”
Here’s the full email that was sent to students:
From: “Office of Career Services”
Date: November 30, 2010 15:26:53 EST:
Hi students,
We received a call today from a SIPA alumnus who is working at the State Department. He asked us to pass along the following information to anyone who will be applying for jobs in the federal government, since all would require a background investigation and in some instances a security clearance.
The documents released during the past few months through Wikileaks are still considered classified documents. He recommends that you DO NOT post links to these documents nor make comments on social media sites such as Facebook or through Twitter. Engaging in these activities would call into question your ability to deal with confidential information, which is part of most positions with the federal government.
In the meantime the State Department has released their own official statement in which they say that the download policy for students is not an official stance, however employees of the State Department without proper security access should not download the sites documents since they are still considered classified.
Hiring decisions, revoked DNS abilities, it looks like the U.S. Government is fighting back against WikiLeaks where they know it will affect readers the most, their pocketbooks.
Students at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs were warned by a State Department employee this week that discussing the controversial secret leaking website WikiLeaks on Facebook or Twitter could bar them from future employment options.
