The Wikileaks saga continues into the new year … we knew it wouldn’t go away — * WikiLeaks cables prompt US to move diplomatic sources * Julian Assange: I Own All of the WikiLeaks Documents * How to save Julian Assange’s movement from itself. * Espionage prosecution likely * WikiLeaks Cables Cited in Lawsuit Over $500 Million Sunken Treasure * US Government Secretly Subpoenas Wikileaks Info From Twitter * U.S. Warns On Reprisals Against Sources In WikiLeaks * Lessons WikiLeaks teaches * first diplomatic WikiLeaks casualty * Agencies instructed on how to review information security . .
WikiLeaks cables prompt US to move diplomatic sources
A few foreign sources identified in leaked dispatches have been moved within their country and others moved overseas
The US state department has relocated a handful of foreign diplomatic sources identified in secret embassy cables released via WikiLeaks, and warned hundreds of others about their safety, American officials say.
Full story : www.guardian.co.uk
Julian Assange: I Own All of the WikiLeaks Documents
Three months after he had given the Guardian most of his collection of nearly a quarter of a million leaked documents, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks.org, stormed into the office of Alan Rusbridger, the paper’s editor, with his lawyer. He was furious.
In an ironic turn of events, one of Assange’s employees at WikiLeaks had leaked the last big chunk of the documents to the Guardian, absolving the paper of a previous agreement with Assange to roll out the now infamous diplomatic cables one chunk at a time. I own this information, Assange essentially told Rusbridger, before threatening to sue. Just seven days later, the leaks got out. Full story : www.theatlantic.com
How to save Julian Assange’s movement from itself.
American diplomacy seems to have survived Wikileaks’s ‘attack on the international community,’ as Hillary Clinton so dramatically characterized it, unscathed.
Save for a few diplomatic reshuffles, Foggy Bottom doesn’t seem to be deeply affected by what happened. Certainly, the U.S. government at large has not been paralyzed by the leaks — contrary to what Julian Assange had envisioned in one of his cryptic-cum-visionary essays, penned in 2006. In a fit of technological romanticism, Assange may have underestimated the indispensability of American power to the international system, the amount of cynicism that already permeates much of Washington’s political establishment, and the glaring lack of interest in foreign policy particulars outside the Beltway. Full story : www.tnr.com
Espionage prosecution likely
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, among others, have called for an espionage prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The thrust of their argument is that Assange has violated #793(e) of the Espionage Act by willfully releasing U.S. documents and information relating to the national defense that he had reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation. Full story : www.law.com
WikiLeaks Cables Cited in Lawsuit Over $500 Million Sunken Treasure
A deep-sea treasure-hunting company in Florida says that diplomatic cables recently released by WikiLeaks have exposed the U.S. government’s backdoor interference in a lawsuit over $500 million in silver and gold coins recovered from a Spanish galleon.
According to Odyssey Marine Exploration, based in Florida, the U.S. State Department cables show that the U.S. ambassador to Spain made a quid pro quo deal to assist that country in its battle with Odyssey for the treasure. In exchange for the United States siding with Spain in the lawsuit, Odyssey says, Spain was asked for assistance in returning a $20 million Pissarro painting to a U.S. family that says it was unfairly obtained by the Nazis in Germany. Full story : www.wired.com
US Government Secretly Subpoenas Wikileaks Info From Twitter
The U.S. government has continued its assault on WikiLeaks by sending Twitter a sub-poena demanding reams of information about Julian Assange and several other WikiLeaks-related folks, including Bradley Manning.
What hasn’t been reported is that the Subpoena served on Twitter — which is actually an Order from a federal court that the DOJ requested — seeks the same information for numerous other individuals currently or formerly associated with WikiLeaks, including Jacob Appelbaum, Rop Gonggrijp, and Julian Assange. It also seeks the same information for Bradley Manning and for WikiLeaks’ Twitter account.
A copy of the Order served on Twitter, obtained exclusively by Salon, is here : twitter/subpoena.pdf
Full story : www.salon.com
U.S. Warns On Reprisals Against Sources In WikiLeaks
The U.S. State Department has warned foreign governments not to retaliate against human rights activists, journalists or others whose dealings with American officials have been revealed in secret diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said certain governments have been told that if they take “adverse actions” against sources cited in the cables, it could harm their relations with the United States. He did not name any governments. Full story : www.rferl.org
Lessons WikiLeaks teaches
Raby Nance, Community editorial board member, writes the first hand editorial …
This writer had me ready to join up with his posse to find and hang Mr. Assange. He wrote of the despicable nature of this man who would divulge our national secrets and undermine our good intentions around the world, expose our military and civilians in combat zones to even greater risks, and reveal the frank assessment our diplomats have made of some world leaders. I agreed with everything the writer said, but then it occurred to me that maybe killing the messenger was not as important as reading some of the leaked material.
Full story : www.theleafchronicle.com
first diplomatic WikiLeaks casualty
U.S. ambassador becomes first diplomatic WikiLeaks casualty after revealing Colonel Gaddafi’s fondness for flamenco dancing and ‘voluptuous blonde nurse’
It was arguably the most embarrassing leak of a personal nature of all the WikiLeaks. Colonel Gaddafi was revealed to hate flying over water and distrusted staying on upper floors of buildings. He was also fond of flamenco dancing and the ‘voluptuous Ukrainian blonde nurse’ who followed him everywhere he went. But the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Gene Cretz, has paid the price for revealing the tyrant’s personality traits – he has lost his job. Full story : www.dailymail.co.uk
Agencies instructed on how to review information security
A memo sent this week to government security officials details how they should conduct security reviews of sensitive or classified information as the Obama administration attempts to safeguard against future leaks to the information-sharing Web site WikiLeaks and other news organizations.
In the wake of an unprecedented document dump that is straining U.S. diplomatic relations in some corners of the world, the administration ordered agencies last month to ensure that unauthorized employees do not get access to classified or sensitive information. The Office of Management and Budget also warned federal employees to steer clear of viewing classified documents published by WikiLeaks or other news organizations. Full story : www.washingtonpost.com
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