Social media now fair game for feds with clearance

If all I had to go on was Facebook, I’d think everyone I’ve ever known was fabulously happy, prosperous and successful. They go on exotic vacations, have the world’s cutest pets, backyards or even second homes comparable to Versailles, garages filled with sleek new foreign sedans. Every child is a darling future genius, every parent a doting one. Occasionally people die, but that’s life.

In short, people schmear their whole lives in blissful, narcissistic detail all over social media. So why get up in arms when — if you have federal security clearance — the authorities making sure you stay on the up-and-up might check your social media activities?

If you post gluten-free recipes, avoid “liking” the Islamic State and made sure not to miss “Star Wars: The Farce  Awakens” (or is it Force?), what’s to worry about?

As our Nicole Ogrysko reports, tucked into the 2016 omnibus appropriations bill lies an overhaul of the federal clearance process. People are to be re-looked at twice every five years. The looks can include publicly accessible electronic data sources such as your credit history, civil or criminal legal activities, and social media. I predict it won’t be long before the civil liberties and privacy crowd goes bananas over the idea of big Jim Clapper conducting surveillance of people’s social media postings and Pinterest pinnings.

The Enhanced Security Clearance Act, which had been a separate bill, seems pretty benign to me. It had bipartisan backing in the Senate. With respect to credit and financial information, tax delinquency and heavy debt have always been red flags for security clearance. I don’t understand the repeated concern about harvesting social media for clues to possible security breaches. The whole social media scene resembles nothing so much as a platform for self-revelation. Millions beg for attention to every detail of their lives.

No one in his or her right mind would post on Facebook that they’re taking a thumb drive full of military secrets to China. Nor would a person with federal clearance in the State Department likely pin up a selfie standing on a desert somewhere wrapped in an ISIS flag. But you can certainly imagine how law enforcement might merge details from social media with information from other databases to create portraits or profiles. Authorities concerned with clearance would be derelict not to do so. My caveat would be if you don’t find anything, erase the file.

If you’re like me, your life is an open book already. A boring one in my case, but open. My last Facebook posting I think occurred last April on my birthday, one where the second digit was a zero. I’m kind to my old dog. My mischievous daughter looked to see if I was on Ashley Madison when that faux-scandal broke; no dice. But I’m also not security cleared, so I’ve never had anyone check into whatever deep, dark past they’re worried I might hide.

If you are cleared, probably your best bet is to keep on going with whatever social media habits you have now. If you suddenly stop posting, what might inquiring eyes think?

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