Raytheon forbids employees to access WikiLeaks website :top:
By Muhammed El-Hasan Business Writer
Posted: 12/02/2010 07:45:24 PM PST
Updated: 12/03/2010 08:50:56 AM PST
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Military contractor Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems has informed employees in El Segundo that they are forbidden to access the controversial whistle-blower website WikiLeaks either on company or personal computers.
Raytheon's directive, issued Tuesday, comes in the wake of WikiLeaks' latest disclosure of classified U.S. diplomatic cables that have caused embarrassment and possibly complicated relations with foreign governments. | MORE BIZ
The Raytheon memo says the company's WikiLeaks policy was in response to federal guidelines.
The memo reads in part: "U.S. Government agencies are releasing guidance to contractors. Reviewing information on WikiLeaks or subsequent disclosures is strictly prohibited. As a contractor to the Federal Government, this means ... personnel are prohibited from accessing WikiLeaks whether on company-issued or on personal equipment."
A Raytheon spokesman declined to comment on the memo.
It was unclear if all of Raytheon's 8,000 El Segundo employees received the memo and whether workers in other parts of Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon Co. also fell under this directive.
In an interview Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Chris Perrine
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confirmed that the Department of Defense communicated with its contractors regarding WikiLeaks.
"We have put out information saying that WikiLeaks information is potentially classified and DoD has directed the military, civilian and contractor personnel" not to access the WikiLeaks website, Perrine said.
Perrine said he did not know if other federal agencies gave their contractors similar instructions restricting access to WikiLeaks.
"The issue for us is if they do it on a government system, and it's classified material, then it's classified as spillage, and then you have to take action possibly for that entire network. ... You may have to wipe computers completely clean. You may have to do a variety of things, and that takes a lot of time and manpower," he said.
Perrine said he was unaware of any Department of Defense policy that explicitly extended the WikiLeaks ban to the personal computer equipment of contractors' employees.
However, he added, "Any of us that have been granted access to classified information has been given proper procedures, and accessing classified information at home would not be a proper procedure."
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican whose district includes the Palos Verdes Peninsula and Port of Los Angeles, declined to comment on Raytheon's WikiLeaks directive, saying he had not read the memo.
A spokesman for Northrop Grumman Corp., the Century City-based military contractor with major operations in the South Bay, declined to comment on WikiLeaks.
The Aerospace Corp., an El Segundo-based company that advises the government on matters involving space rockets and satellites, said it communicates regularly with employees on security matters.
Aerospace said in a statement to the Breeze: "We reminded our employees that they have an ongoing responsibility to protect sensitive and classified information and its attendant relationships. Our security team regularly updates employees on security issues through manager flowdown, e-mail, monthly newsletters and an annual security orientation."
Raytheon's strict rules for employee viewing of WikiLeaks - even extending to personal computer equipment - is legal, according to professor Jonathan Kotler, a First Amendment expert at USC's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.
"Can they tell employees that they can't access certain sites as a condition of employment? They can do that," Kotler said. "It's very controversial. It's just perfectly legal."
However, a company is not allowed to require an employee to engage in an illegal act as a condition of employment, he said.
Kotler questioned the effectiveness of Raytheon's prohibition on accessing WikiLeaks.
For example, Raytheon's restrictions would not apply to the family of employees, who then could read WikiLeaks items out loud as the employee sits in the same room.
"They can bind the employees, but they can't bind the employees' families or friends of neighbors," Kotler said.
The USC professor said the only way the U.S. government can stop WikiLeaks from releasing classified documents is to have jurisdiction over the website and "convince a judge" that the website harms national security.
"But you must first get jurisdiction over WikiLeaks," he said, "and how do you do that if they're not in the U.S.?"
muhammed.el-hasan@dailybreeze.com
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