Federal guidance on WikiLeaks raises legal questions

The government might not have the right to restrict federal employees and contractors from viewing on their personal home computers the classified material that WikiLeaks posted, said Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law with expertise in whistleblower protections and national security.

On Dec. 3, OMB's general counsel office sent a notice to agency general counsels instructing them to remind employees they should not view materials that WikiLeaks posted because the information remains classified. The memo said federal employees and contractors "shall not . . . access documents that are marked classified," on computers that access nonclassified government systems, including employees' or contractors' personally owned computers. Clark said the guidance is unclear as to whether employees could access the leaked documents on a personal computer that does not access government systems.