Originally Posted by
pattern_is_full
The Air Guard guy who leaked the documents was an IT person - you know, maintaining the computers and network, and making sure the documents were properly backed up and so on. Which is why he had the clearance to see such things - he just abused the privilege.
Doesn't need access to the plain text documents to do that. Lazy and/or self important IT people will tell you that they do, but they don't. They can quite happily backup the encrypted files without ever knowing the decryption keys. And *somebody else* can backup the keys. Similarly perfectly possible to maintain the network without being able to read the traffic.
For real world analogies - my postman can deliver letters without opening the envelope and your tank mechanic can swap the oil without ever knowing the precise chemical makeup of the oil.