This Time The Leaks Really Hurt

As a historian dealing with national security affairs the Geek has been long frustrated and angered by the degree of secrecy surrounding diplomatic and military communications and other documents, even those dealing with the most mundane tactical matters.  He has fought many skirmishes with the Minions of Secrecy in order to gain access to materials forty and more years old.

Many, many times when the documents have been released (usually with more than their fair share of thick black lines scattered throughout), the Geek has been surprised that the materials had ever been classified given their content.  Many seem to have been stamped "Burn Before Reading" in order to protect egos, cover over errors of judgement, and otherwise maintain what one White House wallah called, "the mystique of government."

With that as background, the release today of a quarter million documents by the media organs favored by WikiLeaks, to say nothing of the actual WikiLeaks posting, does constitute real damage to the ability of American diplomats to carry out their most basic function.  That task, the foundation of all embassy work, is to speak candidly with representatives of the host government and report back to Foggy Bottom in full, accurate, and blunt candor.  While a degree of public prevarication is a requirement for diplomats, the need for internal honesty of fact and assessment is even more vital.

Diplomats who can not report honestly and frankly are a waste of public money.  Likewise, a host government which cannot speak bluntly with American representatives constitutes a net liability for American interests.  All hands everywhere in the world play the game the same way.  All expect blunt honesty in all internal communications.  All speak with forked tongues--a friendly, bland one for public consumption and an acidic sharp one in private.  And, most importantly, all anticipate that the bluntness will stay all in the family so to speak.

Thanks to the treacherous actions of a weasel named Brandly Manning aided and abetted by a computer system which grants automatic access to any low level person with a Secret clearance, the honesty and frankness without which diplomacy in its many, many forms has been compromised.  Over and above Private Manning is the shadowy Australian Julian Assange whose motives are declared to be pure beyond the ken of mere humans but who may well be a meretricious servant of men deeper in the dark for whom the United States and its actions are anathema.

The duo of Manning and Assange as well as their media facilitators such as the NYT have conspired and acted to cripple severely the capacity of the US to engage effectively in the normal tasks of diplomacy.  They may even have damaged the American ability to formulate and execute foreign policy for years to come.

The only upside in the current affair is that none of the documents carried the highest category of classification.  Bad as the damage done by the glimpse at the real deal of diplomatic doings has been, it would have been orders of magnitude worse had the Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information category been breeched as well.

The way in which damage has been done to US interests does not reside so much in what was actually disclosed, although some of that, such as the Yemeni president saying he has no problem with smuggled whiskey provided it is "good," will have immediate negative ramifications.  The real damage will come when foreign policy makers find some item in the revelations which provides plausible public cover in rejecting an American demarche or an American request for cooperation on a matter of what can be seen as a coinciding national interest.

Most political leaders--and all who deal hands-on with foreign policy--understand how the game is played and will be disinclined to take offense at the contents of the released documents.  Most will take a thank-God-it-didn't-happen-to-us attitude.  But there will be exceptions, some genuine and others artificial.  The exceptions may well hurt.

Also likely to hurt will be the effects of released materials upon the domestic opposition to some foreign governments discussed in the documents.  Opposition groups will go over the trove with an eye for anything, any tiny tidbit which can be exploited to the disadvantage of the man or party in power.  Foreign leaders friendly to the US are the most likely victims of this data mining process.  That will hurt, particularly if they are either forced from office or compelled by the opposition to change pro-US policies.

Another way in which the release will hurt is that it will inhibit honesty both on the part of American diplomatic personnel and foreign interlocutors both inside and outside government.  If secret materials are likely to become a matter of global knowledge, the only rational response is not to talk--at least not honestly and not to write--again or at least not honestly.

This release is no victory for the public's right to know.  Most of the materials are properly classified and awaiting declassification is no unacceptable burden on Americans or foreign nationals.  No genuine need has been served by the dreadful duo of Manning and Assange--except the needs of enemies of the United States and other civilized countries.