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The WikiLeaks problem

Generally I am in favor of WikiLeaks -- some corporate and political secrets need to be brought out into the daylight for people to see. It has the overall effect of keeping people (and corporations) honest. The leak of the Afghan documents is unconscionable. Contained within are names and locations of contact people who have been feeding information to coalition forces. We can kiss those people, and their families, and their villages and extended families goodbye. From the New York Times:

U.S. Military Scrutinizes Leaks for Risks to Afghans
The Pentagon is reviewing tens of thousands of classified battlefield reports made public this week about the war in Afghanistan to determine whether Afghan informants were identified and could be at risk of reprisals, American officials said Wednesday.

A Pentagon spokesman, Col. David Lapan, said that a Pentagon assessment team had not yet drawn any conclusions, but that �in general, the naming of individuals could cause potential problems, both to their physical safety or willingness to continue support to coalition forces or the Afghan government.�

Speaking in Kabul on Thursday, the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, called the disclosure of the names of Afghans who had cooperated with NATO and American forces "extremely irresponsible and shocking."

A bit more:

A search by The New York Times through a sampling of the documents released by the organization WikiLeaks found reports that gave the names or other identifying features of dozens of Afghan informants, potential defectors and others who were cooperating with American and NATO troops.

And, as for who did this -- there is a rapidly growing body of evidence that it was this little snowflake: From the Wall Street Journal:

Evidence Ties Manning to Afghan Leaks
Investigators have found concrete evidence linking Pfc. Bradley Manning with the leak of classified Afghanistan war reports, a U.S. defense official said.

A search of the computers used by Pfc. Manning yielded evidence he had downloaded the Afghanistan war logs, which span 2004-2009, the official said. It isn't clear precisely what that evidence is.

Pfc. Manning, 22 years old, worked in the intelligence operations of the 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Brigade in Baghdad. Although he was supposed to be examining intelligence relevant to Iraq, defense officials said Pfc. Manning used his "Top Secret/SCI" clearance to tap into documents around the world.

Rope, Tree -- some assembly required... Posted by DaveH at July 29, 2010 11:22 AM