Posted on 12/06/2010 10:56:08 AM PST by ConorMacNessa
(CNN) -- WikiLeaks has published a secret U.S. diplomatic cable listing locations abroad that the U.S. considers vital to its national security, prompting criticism that the website is inviting terrorist attacks on American interests.
The list is part of a lengthy cable the State Department sent in February 2009 to its posts around the world. The cable asked American diplomats to identify key resources, facilities and installations outside the United States "whose loss could critically impact the public health, economic security, and/or national and homeland security of the United States."
The diplomats identified dozens of places on every continent, including mines, manufacturing complexes, ports and research establishments. CNN is not publishing specific details from the list, which refers to pipelines and undersea telecommunications cables as well as the location of minerals or chemicals critical to U.S. industry.
The list also mentions dams close to the U.S. border and a telecommunications hub whose destruction might seriously disrupt global communications. Diplomats also identified sites of strategic importance for supplying U.S. forces and interests abroad, such as in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Panama Canal.
The cable is classified secret and not for review by non-U.S. personnel.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
The traitor (homosexual) in the military who pilfered much of the material indeed needs to be tried for treason.
This foreign stooge needs to be prosecuted for espionage.
Right! And how fresh this information actually is. This stuff could be so out of date and stale that the person/people leaking it are pleased that these could be considered valid targets. This could also be part of a sting operation to entice someone to move against these phantoms and thereby expose themselves.
This is a prime example why we don’t want gaie people in the US armed forces.
Yes, but it's not treason. You have to be American to commit treason against America; that's part of the meaning of the word.
Good stuff here if one will connect the dots.
I was scanning this thread looking for someone to bring this up. Congress should investigate why a single person would have access to all of the information being posted by wikileaks. You would think that U.S. security would require that most of this information would have been kept in separate repositories where one person would not have access.
A second question I have is “who” requested that the information about U.S. vulnerabilities be gathered for dissemination on this relatively insecure information channel where this underling would have access? Congress should begin proceedings to find out how this occurred. I’m suggesting something far more sinister than Assange, here. I’m suggesting that someone in our government may have made sure that this information was present to be dumped by Wikileaks.
Many people do not realize that the CIA was founded after WWII to gather run of the mill demographics worldwide. Most CIA information is gathered by reading the local newspapers and listening to the local media. The CIA was needed because we found out that we knew very little about our enemies when WWII ramped up. Lack of information means lack of good targets in warfare. Wikileaks is serving that function for our enemies.
Finally, how are we to know what is valid and what might be counterfeited? Anyone with the morals of the Wikileaks founder would certainly be suspect to injecting his/her own “information” into the dump.
Good stuff here if one will connect the dots.
It's not like they don't already know either. Really, communists have been doing espionage in this country for almost a century. Does anybody really think they wouldn't pass that knowledge on to our enemies? How hard is it to compile such information?
OTOH, the American public DOESN'T know how vulnerable it really is and therefore has NOT made preparations to survive. How is that in our interest? Whatever happened to civil defense? Isn't that how this country was intended to be organized by the Founders? Knowing that we have hundreds of Achilles heels out there is a wake-up call. In that respect the creep has done us a service.
If anybody is interested, there has been a recent discovery of the original Biblical system for civil defense, lost for over 3,000 years.
Correct. Treason only applies to U.S. Citizens. What this is, is “espionage”.
What the little twink private did was Treason.
Both punishable by a bullet.
Punishable by death....
Actually, it very well could be. It's been kind of interesting to note that most of these releases have been kinda' yawners so far. One or two juicy little tidbits, but nothing that's on the scale of damage that the Walker's did, for example. Most of this stuff is pretty ordinary traffic that anyone on a SIPRnet connection might be able to access, and lots of people have access to that. I don't think there is any automatic need for a wider conspiracy to have pulled this off... though the investigation certainly needs to consider that, and I'm sure they are.
That is a very good point. I can't believe that one little private had access to and smuggled all of this classified data out.
All that money spent on Homeland Security post-9/11 and a single private in the Army can completely compromise national intelligence security? Something doesn't smell right about this, at all!
That makes it easier by eliminating the first two steps.
Which is exactly why before every NFL game, opposing coaches exchange playbooks and during the game, the quarterback yells to the defense what the upcoming play is going to be.
Wait, what.
Effectively, Julian Assange has let the world into our American coaches meeting. He's published pages of our playbook. He's told the opposition what plays we're weakest defending, which of our star players is injured, and what we're doing with our allies to mitigate those weaknesses.
Irrespective of the incumbent administration's political affiliation, how anybody thinks this is a good thing, is a mystery. From now until the foreseeable future, our friends and allies will be hesitant to speak to our foreign service officers with any candor, for fear that whatever they say will be published on the front page of the NY Times.
I echo John Bolton's sentiments on the subject - "This is bad, very very bad".
It’s ESPIONAGE!
The internet opened up all kinds of trap doors and tricks to do dastardly acts with it as a tool. But there is still a line that ought not be crossed .. policing it is a real b*tch.
Rendition his arse.. let him stfu at Gitmo
There’s a fine line between espionage and journalism. The law that I think applies for espionage:
http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/37/794
I personally think that Assange is an anti-American journalist and a great one. This is the most hard news I’ve ever seen a journalist acquire. It’s incredible.
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