What is extraordinary to anyone reading the WikiLeaks material is not so much its content as the manner of its preparation and dissemination in the first place. The leaked documents did not carry a full top-secret classification and were apparently intended to promote debate across the widest possible range of people in the foreign service community. They amount to a running encyclopedia of the views, gossip and analysis of American foreign service officers, made available, we are told, to some 2-3 million authorized accessors to the State Department intranet worldwide.
This material went out uncensored, with names and sources disclosed, on an intranet with an unsophisticated coding system. That it could be downloaded by one, presumably authorised, person is strange enough. It is hard to believe no more menacing power did not have the ability to do likewise. The recklessness of such a casual approach to secrecy beggars belief.
By way of contrast, the five media organizations in receipt of the material went to extraordinary lengths over the past two months to check and "redact" the material that the State Department disseminated so widely. Dozens of names were removed, sources concealed and any danger to current operations censored. Diplomatic agencies were also given the opportunity to warn of risky areas and their views logged and taken into account. Each of the recipient media cross-checked with each other and with WikiLeaks itself. No such precautions were taken by the State Department in preparing its own intranet dissemination. If I were an American source, I would be far more afraid of the State Department than the world's media.
Sec Clinton is merely following the already approved path AND for sure President Obama's direction as well. If they don't want this stuff out there, and most of it is so snide it reminds one of high school revelations, they need to classify it more carefully, with code or whatever.
Those of us who are old enough recall the great right wing outcry when the Pentagon Papers were published. The harm that their publication caused to individuals was insignificant in comparison to that which it prevented by enabling millions of open minded Americans to properly inform themselves concerning the Vietnam war. The same will be true of the Wikileaks documents, I hope.
This is nothing but an attack on the United States. I wonder what tune you'd be singing if classified UK documents were released to the world.
The Govt will have to update our computer system at a cost of hundreds of billions, and then we can go forward yadda, yadda, yadda. And some company gets a contract for $XXXXXXXXX! But no more leaks. Yea, sure. Follow the money.
Cheney and Rumsfeld wanted everything secret,
they were warned. Just another debt they ran up
that we get to pay for.
It was only a matter of time before lower level government personnel emulated the behavior of those in charge in handling classified information imho. And I still believe there needs to be some consequence handed down for the criminal acts (and that is what leaking classified info is) committed by the Bush Administration.
Excellent essay. Well said.