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The front door of WikiLeaks' bomb-proof server, carved into the White Mountains of Sweden.
Classified Information: Top Secret, Secret, Confidential, Issues of National Security, Biological, Chemical and Radiological Secrets, Industrial and Manufacturing Secrets, as well as Personal Information related to job, medical and criminal history are all considered Confidential. Public Facilities Infrastrutures, Military Installations, Energy and Natural Resouces Information. For all intent and purposes – almost everything is Secret. Ask Scooter Libby why he spent some time in jail for mentioning in passing that Valerie Palme “could be or was a known CIA Agent”. Sean Penn even made a movie about it!
Julian Assange is the founder of Wikileaks. Assange is being sought by the Government of Sweden for purported Sexual Assault charges….stemming from asking a couple of babes whether they had been STD tested. Think there is more to it than that? Little doubt. Especially, when Wikileaks took a mountain of Classified Foreign Policy Communications from a lowly Specialist 4th in the U.S. Army – and released it all to the world without trepidation.
This stir has caused a great degree of “Calling for the head of Julian Assange”. Some U.S. Senators want Assange named as an Enemy Combatant, grabbed and immediatly taken to Guantanemo. Government Employees are now “Required To Not Look” at any of the information released by Wikileaks ever! Whether you say that the “Cat is out of the bag!”…or “the Emperor never wears a condum”…..if only the Russian Security Forces, the North Korean Security people, the Chinese Government, Mosad of Israel or even the Cambodian Secret Police get the info….the reality is: “It’s all out there now”!
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg lost their lives because they disclosed the plans for the Atom Bomb to the Soviet Union. Jonathan Pollard is still in jail for disclosing our Navy Secrets to Israel. Let’s just say that anytime you disclose information, including the Pentagon Papers….there are going to be big problems for someone. Either to the ones that disclose or those that oppose the release of that information. The argument boils down to a few simple principles worthy of consideration: “Will the information place someone in physical harm’s way?” An example might be of disclosing “a list of French Resistance participants during World War II”. The Secretary of Defense is supposed to be in charge of Classifying information that could put our Military or the people of the United States at risk. Determining what toothpaste that Hillary Clinton might use…..or what beer the President prefers…..may not meet those strict requirements for Secret Classification. Maybe…maybe not! Maybe Assange thought that if he released “The Encyclopedia Brittanica of U.S. Intelligence” no one could get him because it was literally: “Too Much Information -we just 601’d your Computers boys!”
The reality of disclosing Government Classified Secrets should probably demostrate to those involved – there will or can be a rational expecation that the release of that information may or will do some great harm to National Security. Diplomatic pouches has been sacrosant since the days of the Revolution and Geogre Washington. The messages contained in those dispatches may have included the time and place of the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor, or of the bombing of Hiroshima by the Enola Gay. When someone discloses “known Confidential or Secret Communications”….they are taking a chance that the release will bring reprisals.
Julian Assange of Wikileaks has made a serious name for himself. Like Sarah Palin, he is now in the public eye. What that brings to Mr. Assange and the future of a free exchange of information around the world……will now have to be determined. Do U.S. Espionage Laws and Rules needs to be changed? The question remains simply: Will these new rules and laws apply across the Globe….or only for Main Street U.S.A.?
Wikileaks style – condemned by those running for the rope who instead should have it looped around their own neck. Obviously, when a Pfc can get a hold of all this information, it’s a huge scandal considering the billions spent on security – at least his CO should be sharing his cell. I imagine that if you’re a Major or above you can probably access the security cameras in Obama’s bedroom – since apparently the “need-to-know” access criteria is no longer followed.
*Having held a Secret Clearance in the U.S. Army……has its disadvantages…You can’t
talk about stuff. It would be very interesting to know if that PFC held any Security Clearance
at all. If not, he can be tried on Espionage charges. If he did in fact have a Security Clearance then he can be tried as a Traitor. In any event, the PFC and the one that gave him access to the Computer are in big trouble….Big Trouble! Leavenworth for a quick 20 years maybe?
At least based on the body of work!!