New Delhi, June 7 – Talk to the CIA, Tweet @CIA The Central Intelligence Agency is expected to announce today that “@CIA” will be its handle on Twitter and that it will also launch on Facebook. The presence on the social-media websites will supplement the CIA’s existing digital presence, which includes a website and Flickr and YouTube accounts.
CIA Director John Brennan explained the move in a press release: “By expanding to these platforms, CIA will be able to more directly engage with the public and provide information on CIA’s mission, history, and other developments.
We have important insights to share, and we want to make sure that unclassified information about the Agency is more accessible to the American public that we serve, consistent with our national security mission.”
Don’t get too excited, however, about the level of detail in the Tweets and Facebook posts. Though a press release on the new accounts says that the agency will post the “latest news, statements, and career information”, an order from the director of national intelligence earlier this year stipulated a requirement that intelligence employees seek authorization before talking to the media about a broad basket of “intelligence-related information.”
Given such constraints, it’s expected that the information which is published by the social-media accounts will go heavy on promotional fare. The press release says the Tweets will showcase “artifacts and other information from the CIA’s Museum – the best museum most people never get to see.
CIA will also post updates and information from the Agency’s ‘World Factbook,’ a unique public resource and educational tool, as well as unclassified intelligence histories and other information”. This is the CIA Twitter handle’s first Tweet.
-INDIA TODAY
