Times Global: US reviewing diplomatic cables after Wiki Leaks

Tempo Semanal

Washington: The US has ordered a massive review of diplomatic cables sent by its embassies around the world after Wiki Leaks threatened to publish thousands of sensitive documents that could undermine America’s ties with other nations, a media report said. The threat publication of thousands of sensitive diplomatic cables by whistle-blower website Wiki Leaks has prompted a massive review of documents at US embassies around the world, CNN quoted a US official as saying. The documents are believed to include hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of diplomatic reporting cables from around the world from between 2006 and 2009, the unnamed US officials said.

The official said that the State Department has, for months, been intensively dealing with the potential impact of the release of documents that Wiki Leaks just recently hinted it will publish. In October, Wiki Leaks released nearly 400,000 US military reports about operations in Iraq. In July it released more than 70,000 reports from the war in Afghanistan. “Next release is 7 [times] the size of the Iraq War Logs,” the Wiki Leaks stated in a posting on its Twitter page on November 21. The State Department has directed every diplomatic mission in the world to analyze cables issued from their locations during that period and to highlight those cables that might contain material sensitive enough to harm the relationship with the host country or put in danger the lives of and sources of information, the report said.

The source says the concern is that Wiki Leaks release could undermine the United States all over the world. Honest diplomatic reporting is essential, the official says, and the Leaks could hurt, that, as well as compromise traditional diplomatic sources. The leaks could ruin their deaths. In preparation, the State Department has been reaching out to other government to warm them and has notified Congress about what could be published, State Department spokesman P J Crowley said earlier this week. The Pentagon also is concerned about the newest release. Officials there expert the documents to be released soon, possibly by the end of the week.