I won't go into what Wikileaks is because if you are on the internet enough to stumble upon my site, you certainly know about it already. First off, I believe Julian Assange is an evil man with highly questionable motives. I think he wants to see worldwide instability rather than his stated goal of openness. In the short term, I can't see how Wikileaks wouldn't compromise the security of countless individuals as well as severely harm diplomacy. Despite nations claiming that their views have not changed since the latest document release, I find it hard to believe that world leaders and diplomats haven't altered their views in light of seeing what some American diplomats characterize them.
However, beyond the short term effects, a few more interesting questions remain:
1. What will the long term effects be? Will future diplomacy always be treated as though correspondence is NOT confidential? Will we see less frankness? Will we see more openness? Will this make us less safe, or will it strengthen diplomatic ties and strengthen alliances?
2. How the supposed source of the leaks go undetected while downloading hundreds of thousands of cables? How is it that no one noticed what was going on, and how did someone gain such high level access without sufficient questions being asked? Are we doing anything to prevent other secrets from getting out in the future?
3. Why is it that we only heard Eric Holder threaten to investigate and prosecute after the third set of leaks and not the first two? I could be wrong in my recollection, but I don't recall Eric Holder taking a public stand during the first few information releases. Then, when information about things that happened during the Obama administration, he decides to investigate to put together a case. If that is not true, please post a link in the comments section. If it is true, why is it so?
And now for something silly from XKCD:
-MSG
Number one lesson of business school - Don't put ANYTHING in writing that you wouldn't want read by a judge or blown-up to a projection screen. Add to that something Julian Assange might release.
ReplyDeleteI think what will happen is that things will be destroyed or never written down in the first place.
Also, Holder did speak out earlier. I can't find the articles now, but he and the Justice Department most certainly did. They are trying to figure out how to proceed - with the Espionage Act of 1917 or something else - it's difficult to make a case against it given the freedom of speech.