[PJDK]

I don't know for sure (not in that world) but wouldn't this make sense from a compartmentalisation perspective?

You have a person that knows X and a person that knows Y, but knowing both X and Y is vastly more valuable. To keep things secure you ban the X group from knowing about Y things regardless of how they found out.

It's going to produce absurdities sometimes, but the basic principle makes sense.

[anonymousiam]

You've hit on part of what I think the reason may be. The C in SCI is "compartmentalized" (or "compartmented" depending upon what era you're from). Keeping information separated reduces the damage from compromise, but also prevents cleared people from seeing the big picture, which might confront the viewer with some ideological conflicts, and make them more likely to leak.

Both Boyce and Snowden leaked because of their ideological opposition to what they saw.

The truth is that "we" (the "good" guys) are doing the same rotten things that the "bad" guys are doing, and being part of that world can make you feel soiled. If "we" chose the high road and didn't stoop the level of the "bad" guys, it would put "us" at a competitive disadvantage.

https://www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/decla...

To survive, you need to rationalize what you see against your own values, and have a mix of patriotism and respect for the rules.

There's an ever-present danger of becoming corrupt within this culture. I've never been an "ends justify the means" sort of person, but most CIA/NSA people I've met are.