Gal Godot, the actor who portrays Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman in the pre-summer blockbuster of the same name, describes her character as “having many strengths and powers, but at the end of the day she’s a woman with a lot of emotional intelligence.” (Source: Entertainment Weekly, March 7, 2016)  If she wanted to hide her true identity, Diana Prince seemed the worst choice ever, until yesterday.  When it comes to suspicious pseudonyms, Diana Prince has nothing over Reality Winner.  Except of course, Reality Winner is the actual name of the person arrested yesterday for leaking classified information.

Before I go any further, I want readers to know I believe individuals who take the following security oath should be prosecuted for violations thereof.

NSA Security Oath

Upon being cleared to protect the sensitive information of the National Security Agency, I subscribe to this oath freely, without mental reservation, and with the full intent to exercise meticulous care in abiding by its items.

• I solemnly swear that I will not reveal to any person any information pertaining to the classified activities of the National Security Agency, except as necessary toward the proper performance of my duties or as specifically authorized by a duly responsible superior known to me to be authorized to receive this information.
• I further solemnly swear that I will report without delay to my security representative the details and circumstances of any case which comes within my knowledge of an unauthorized person obtaining or attempting to obtain information concerning the classified operations of the National Security Agency.
• I fully appreciate and understand that the security of the information and activities of the National Security Agency is of vital importance to the welfare and defense of the United States.
• I affirm that I am familiar with the provisions of Sections 793, 794 and 798, Title 18, United States Code.
• I do hereby affirm any understanding that the obligations of this oath will continue even after severance of my connections with the National Security Agency and that they remain fully binding on me during peacetime as well as during wartime.

My point in sharing this information is to acknowledge both my understanding why the Department of Justice was justified in charging Winner with a crime and also why I am willing to hold judgment whether she is criminal or a patriot.  Thus the title of this blog, “I Wonder, Woman?…” As should be the case at the beginning of any story or investigation, I have more questions than answers, including:

• I wonder, woman, if the timing of your release of this information was intentional, a heads-up to the Senate Intelligence Committee before it hears public testimony from NSA Director Mike Rogers on Wednesday.
• I wonder, woman, whether the alleged hacking into the IT system of a voter software development company days before the 2016 election would have come up during the hearing absent the leaked report.
• I wonder, woman, if you were concerned Special Counsel Robert Mueller might not be aware of this additional method by which the Russians were attempting to influence the outcome of the presidential election.
• I wonder, woman, whether the information in the leaked documents was a greater threat to national security than the commander-in-chief sharing the location of a national intelligence asset with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador to the United States.
• I wonder, woman, if the “trail of crumbs” you left behind which facilitated your identification as source of the leak was deliberate?
• I wonder, woman, if from the start, you intended to give yourself up?  After all, you called your mother a day before being arrested and asked her to find an alternate home for your pets.
• I wonder. woman, if your decision to “face the music” was a message, that unlike others such as Edward Snowden and Jullian Assange who sought refuge from prosecution, you are willing to make a case that sometimes patriotic acts sometime outweigh personal safety and comfort.
• Yet, I also have to wonder, woman, why, like Snowden, you gave your story to a second-tier on-line publication as opposed to bringing it to the attention of officials up the chain of command or to a potentially sympathetic member of the congressional committees with jurisdiction over the matters contained in the leaked documents.

Which brings us back to the fictional Wonder Woman.  There is a trend in films based on Marvel and DC comics to make the protagonists more ambiguous in terms of being forces for good or evil.  And the same could be said of Reality Winner.  Her arrest is just the first scene.  And it’s hard to know how the story ends.  It may even require a sequel.  But of one thing I am sure.  Ms. Winner, by choosing to have her day in court rather than becoming the next toast of Moscow or sequestered in a diplomatic sanctuary, emulates her cinema counterpart as a woman “having many strengths and powers, but at the end of the day she’s a woman with a lot of emotional intelligence.”

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP