What are red flags and what does it mean when one appears? For The Man From FCPA the term is about as ubiquitous as “tone from the top.” However simply because a phrase is well-worn does not mean it is not without value. Indeed, it may be that the simple fact it is so frequently used that in and of itself, denotes how significant the phase is in the compliance arena.
The questions and others have been swirling around in the context of National Security Agency employee Harold Martin and his alleged theft of classified documents from his employer. An article in the New York Times, focus on those red flags around Martin’s life. Some of the red flags raised in Martin’s employment, where he initially obtained and then renewed his top-secret security clearance, included “drinking problems, a drunk-driving arrest, two divorces, unpaid tax bills, a charge of computer harassment and a bizarre episode in which he posed as a police officer in traffic dispute.” In addition to all of the above, the highly publicized protections the NSA put in place after l’affaire Snowden to prevent employees from simply walking out of their office buildings with classified information seems to have failed.
