A report in the Chicago Tribune, that’s now been picked up by the BBC, ought to have the intelligence community — and every American — shaking in their shoes.

When the Tribune searched a commercial online data service, the result was a virtual directory of more than 2,600 CIA employees, 50 internal agency telephone numbers and the locations of some two dozen secret CIA facilities around the United States.

Only recently has the CIA recognized that in the Internet age its traditional system of providing cover for clandestine employees working overseas is fraught with holes, a discovery that is said to have “horrified” CIA Director Porter Goss.

I really don’t have words for this. I certainly would have liked to believe that the CIA would have thought about such things and done what they need to do to protect its agents. But I guess that optimistic view is hopelessly naive.

I am often in the position of telling government to resist its “don’t just sit there — do something” instincts. But I think in this case, I wish the government would stop sitting there and do something! And right now, dammit!

The government’s first and most important role is to protect its citizens from foreign threats, and these days, an effective CIA is a critical part of that mission. This disclosure demonstrates that there are, at a minimum, serious problems at the CIA that need to be addressed.

UPDATE: To the Tribune’s credit, they refrained from printing the agents’ names.