The Times Union has reported that a secretary at Albany’s Division of Parole has been transferred after parole officers found out that she was supplying information to a suspected gang member who was being investigated for his allegedly selling marijuana.

The integrity of the secretary is clearly at fault here. But it also raises the issue of whether the organisation has sufficient controls over who accesses confidential information. The newspaper reports that the Division of Parole’s confidential case management system is accessible to all staff with relevant clearance - Maybe clearance levels need to be reviewed. Is the “need to know” principle being properly applied? Confidential information, especially highly sensitive information such as details of confidential informants, should be restricted to those that really must see it.