Charity begins at home. If that particular individual did not want this info to spread, he should have kept it to himself & his org.
When he cannot help sharing his own info, how could he possibly expect others not to spill beans ?
The moment he opened his mouth on this, he should have known this would spread far & wide. So, instead of
@Decklander Sir, I would rather put the onus on the IB officer to honor his oath of confidentiality.
If you really want a secret to remain a secret, do not share it. If you share it yourself, do not expect others to contain it to themselves, when you could not keep it to yourself.
But, this is all theory.
To connect, we share. That's human nature. We confide in friends to keep nurturing our bonds.
But, I am pretty sure whatever details the IB officer shared would be very high-level & no specific details of operations or contact/individuals would have been discussed. Men with responsibility do realize where the line is being crossed & they usually refrain from reaching that line.
Speaking from experience because I keep hearing from old friends about operations being conducted in badlands (cash-transfers, sabotage, subterfuge, phony wars) but neither do I ask for lot of details nor do my friends care to share more than what could be safely discussed. As for me, I do not discuss these things even with people closest to me, including my wife. So, my friends do realize whatever they share would be safe with me.
That is, unless, I get greedy, dauntless or attention-hungry enough to publish a tell-all journal on some blog/publication; which is a distinct prospect when I am old