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You are here: MacNN Forums > Community > MacNN Lounge > Political/War Lounge > The true danger of WikiLeaks

The true danger of WikiLeaks
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Wiskedjak
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Aug 28, 2010, 10:07 AM
 
I don't think the danger is in exposing government secrets, but in exposing how much of what they know is subject to interpretation.
Fidel Castro claims Osama bin Laden is a US spy | World news | The Guardian
     
ghporter
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Aug 28, 2010, 10:29 AM
 
Wikileaks' biggest exposé is the extent to which people with security clearances will violate oaths and the law. Those files didn't just migrate to 'leaks' site by themselves you know. I'm disgusted by this-I never worked with anyone I would have suspected COULD violate their clearances like that, but that's probably the whole point. I think a LOT of work needs to be done on investigating people with clearances again and finding out more than just "are they likely to take money for secrets?" Unlike Cold War espionage, this seems far more ideological.

And I agree that "interpreted intelligence" is a bad thing to have out in the public. Interpretations of raw intel are generally processed and re-thought by a number of levels of analysts before they become anything actionable. Which is why there are so many analysts and why it takes so long to process the raw information.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
hyteckit
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Aug 28, 2010, 08:09 PM
 
I'm all for government disclosure and openness.

But there's just certain things that the government needs to keep secret in order to protect our nation.

There's always going to be the argument of who is going to decide on what should be kept secret and what the public should know.
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ghporter
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Aug 28, 2010, 09:39 PM
 
Originally Posted by hyteckit View Post
I'm all for government disclosure and openness.

But there's just certain things that the government needs to keep secret in order to protect our nation.

There's always going to be the argument of who is going to decide on what should be kept secret and what the public should know.
Operational details of ongoing military operations MUST remain secret for at least until such operations have concluded. And if these operations are part of a large scale master plan, they need to stay secret until the master plan is completed. To do otherwise risks lives on both sides unnecessarily, and more importantly to me it risks American lives. While a lot of people on these forums really don't understand it, almost all US GIs are in extremely unpleasant situations for wholly altruistic reasons.

Intelligence sources and methods need to be kept secret in order to protect sources and "not spill the beans" on how information is gathered and processed. Letting these bits of information out of the bag puts people who are sources of information in grave danger and can ruin years worth of work-which may simply be a study of how Country A manages to distribute its fuel resources in the face of natural and social obstacles.

On the other hand, non-military information should be much more open than it is here in the States.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
imitchellg5
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Aug 28, 2010, 09:42 PM
 
I genuinely believe that WikiLeaks will instigate the first all-out cyber war.
     
chabig
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Dec 4, 2010, 08:01 PM
 
A friend sent this to me:

"If our government really wants to keep top secret documents classified, they should be kept in the same place that Obama's college transcripts and birth certificate are kept."

I laughed out loud!
     
turtle777
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Dec 4, 2010, 09:06 PM
 


-t
     
imitchellg5
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Dec 4, 2010, 09:08 PM
 
I laughed out loud for resurrecting an old thread when the current would have been fine.
     
subego
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Dec 4, 2010, 10:40 PM
 
Originally Posted by imitchellg5 View Post
I genuinely believe that WikiLeaks will instigate the first all-out cyber war.
Ding! Ding! Ding!

You called it early.
     
imitchellg5
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Dec 4, 2010, 11:30 PM
 
That is true. Thanks chabig for resurrecting this thread to assert my dominance in cyber war predictability.
     
AKcrab
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Dec 5, 2010, 11:29 PM
 
Originally Posted by imitchellg5 View Post
... dominance in cyber war predictability.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange threatened to unleash a “thermonuclear device” of completely unexpurgated government files if he is forced to appear before authorities.
WikiLeaks founder threatens to release entire cache of unfiltered files - The Globe and Mail

He's going all in.
     
Snow-i
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Dec 6, 2010, 02:37 AM
 
I Call
     
lpkmckenna
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Dec 6, 2010, 04:45 AM
 
For some reason, people are posting in this almost contentless thread instead of my thread. So here's something interesting, anyway: Assange Rape Accuser Worked with US-Funded, CIA-Tied Anti-Castro Group. Gee, small world.

EDiT: btw, I had no idea who Israel Shamir was when I posted this here. So perhaps this story is conspiracy-theory crap.
( Last edited by lpkmckenna; Dec 6, 2010 at 05:24 AM. )
     
subego
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Dec 7, 2010, 07:40 PM
 
     
   
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