On November 28, 2010, WikiLeaks began releasing diplomatic cables, many labeled “classified,” spanning years of communication between the State Department and world-wide embassies. The 250,000 cables present the hidden side of diplomacy and their publication will cause acute embarrassment for the United States.
Observers point out that the WikiLeaks files could represent a “game changer” in terms of the future conduct of U.S. foreign policy as well as the trust level between heads of state. This third round of WikiLeaks disclosures, however, also ignites an old debate: does the public have the right to know everything the U.S. government is involved in, even if such disclosures compromise national security?
Government Secrets Frequently Support Political Aims
When the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia during the 1917 October Revolution, Leon Trotsky publicized the secret treaties and agreements that had been made between Imperial Russia and the allies.
It was an attempt to demonstrate to the world what the Bolsheviks had been saying all along: the Great War was a creation of the upper classes seeking to expand their imperialist goals.
During that war, the British liner RMS Lusitania was sunk off the Irish coast by a German U-boat in May 1915, resulting in the deaths of almost 1,200 people, including over 100 Americans. Although President Woodrow Wilson knew that the ship was carrying contraband, making it a legitimate target, he classified the documents.
The truth would not be known until the archives were declassified in the 1960s. Wilson, whose 1916 campaign slogan was “He Kept us Out of War,” kept all of his options open.
Classified Government Documents Serve a National Purpose
During World War II, the Manhattan Project was one of the most closely guarded government operations. Even President Franklin Roosevelt’s fourth Vice President, Harry Truman, knew nothing about the project when he became President upon the death of FDR.
The Bataan Death March, which took place in early 1942, was kept from the public until the start of 1945 when the details of the horrendous incident were leaked to the press and published. The Imperial Japanese government did much the same thing after their spectacular defeat a Midway in June 1942, quarantining sailors and flight crews once the fleet returned to Japan. In Nazi Germany, the Ministry of Propaganda kept the Stalingrad defeat a secret to avoid a decline in morale.
WikiLeaks Compared to the Pentagon Papers
In 1971, the New York Times published the Pentagon Papers, highly classified U.S. documents detailing American involvement in Vietnam up to 1967. The man behind the leaks was Daniel Ellsberg, compared today with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The essence of the Pentagon Papers was that the U.S. government, through its leaders, had lied about the reasons for American involvement in Vietnam and that the on-going conflict was clouded in duplicity and fabrication. Publication of the documents further enflamed anti-war sentiment and embarrassed the U.S. government.
WikiLeaks May Undermine Future U.S. Efforts to Combat Terrorism and Alienate Friendly Governments
On November 28, 2010, the Turkish Daily News, Hurriyet, commented that “…technology has spawned a form of ‘Little Brother’” [in contrast to George Orwell’s “Big Brother”] and concluded, “We will be making many judgments this week.” Focusing on Iran’s nuclear threat, the November 28, 2010 Jerusalem Post claims that “Wikileaks vindicate, don’t damage Israel.”
Other news reports, however, indicate that the leaks may hurt U.S. efforts in fighting global terrorism, as in Yemen. (Aljazeerah, November 28, 2010) The German news magazine Spiegel, an early recipient of the WikiLeaks disclosures, calls the leaks a “foreign policy meltdown” (November 28, 2010) but places part of the blame on the U.S. government itself: “The leaking of the diplomatic cables was an accident that was waiting to happen.”
National Security and Global Considerations Trump Full Disclosure
In the case of WikiLeaks, it is no longer a question of whether the American public has a right to know, as with the Pentagon Papers, but whether the entire world has that right. The age of technology has evolved into a vehicle that could destabilize the world, fuel festering conflicts, and create paranoia among heads of state, making any future negotiations difficult.
Unlike China, the United States does not arbitrarily shut down internet sites. Even if such gross censorship was practiced, the effect would be moot since every person on the planet with a computer can read the secret cables.
On one level, the public has a right to know as a method in reclaiming integrity and transparency. Americans in particular have the right to know what their government is doing in their name. The United States still has a functioning Constitution. Any attempt to circumvent the openness of the Democracy invites corruption and encourages rule beyond the power of law.
On another level, full disclosures such as evidenced by WikiLeaks can harm that Democracy in the future. The United States operates on a system of checks and balances. This includes responsible oversight of intelligence. The overriding resolution should not be in finding ways to better hide diplomatic cables, but in forcing government agencies to act constitutionally.
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