NSA Doesn't Know What Edward Snowden Took: Report The sources attributed the NSA's uncertainty to poor organization of data; weak compartmentalization and auditing allowed Snowden to browse wide areas of documents with ease.
Aug. 21, 2013 - The Huffington Post
Robert Mueller in The Hill Mueller noted that Ashcroft had told the White House officials "that he was barred from obtaining the advice he needed on the program by the strict compartmentalization rules of the WH."
John Ashcroft in Seattle Times In his notes, Mueller recounts Comey's statement that Ashcroft complained to Gonzales and Card at the hospital about being "barred" from obtaining "the advice he needed" about the NSA program because of "strict compartmentalization rules"...
Uzi Arad in Wall Street Journal An instructive example: "In the past," Mr. Arad says, "secrecy and compartmentalization were considered to be virtues in the intelligence community, often at the expense of synergy. That made sense during the Cold War, when the US was...