Breaking: Der Spiegel published Wikileaks' documents too early

[Lars77]

Source: Sify News

Washington/Berlin, Nov 28 (DPA) The first details of the illicit publication of US classified diplomatic cables and documents were leaking Saturday on the internet.

The US State Department was bracing for the publication by WikiLeaks of millions of confidential messages and reports sometime in the coming days. Germany's Der Spiegel, London's Guardian and the US's New York Times were expected to simultaneously release their stories and links to the documents in the coming day or so.

The documents are expected to contain classified and embarrassing details or communications about other countries. They will represent the third batch of secret US documents posted by the upstart WikiLeaks organisation.

The German website netzpolitik.org reported Saturday on a brief posting on Der Spiegel online that hinted at some details of the WikiLeaks documents. Der Spiegel took the posting down after only a brief appearance online.

Read more: http://sify.com/news/most-of-the-wikileaks-cables-date-from-2004-report-news-international-kl2g4cbhhaa.html

---

This is the only english language source i've been able to find yet, Der Spiegel published everything online about 3 hours ago, but it quickly dissapeared again. According to Norwegian state television the leak is scheduled for Sunday evening (european time probaby).

The leak consists of 251.287 telegrams and 8000 diplomatic messages.
The material is all post 2004 with the exception of one telegram from 1996.
9006 documents are from January/February 2010.



The leak also contains this map:
http://www.nrk.no/contentfile/file/1.7401077!img7401077.gif

[Lars77]

1. Miami Herald: U.S. officials say latest planned WikiLeaks release will do most damage yet

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/27/1946145/us-officials-say-latest-planned.html


WASHINGTON -- U.S. diplomats and officials said they're bracing for at least three newspapers and WikiLeaks to publish on Sunday hundreds of thousands classified State Department cables that could drastically alter U.S. relations with top allies and reveal embarrassing secrets about U.S. foreign policy.

U.S. diplomats frantically have been reaching out to their counterparts around the world as intelligence officials pleaded with WikiLeaks and the newspapers, including The New York Times, the Guardian in London and Der Spiegel, a German newsweekly, to not publish information that could endanger lives and U.S. policy. Some of the documents are expected to reveal details about how some U.S. diplomats feel about top foreign leaders.

While this is the third time this year WikiLeaks has released a batch of documents related to U.S. foreign policy, officials told McClatchy that Sunday's expected release will be far more damaging than the first two combined.

[Pavulon]

2. Bet the rabble calls for a response(nt)

[Poll_Blind]

3. The leak happened at least 7+ hours ago, I posted a thread about it then...

...right here.

There are two sites I link to there, you might want to check those out.

PB

[Lars77]

33. Opps, sorry :) nt

[Imajika]

4. Great, now we taxpayers will get to pay billions more...

...to tighten security on sensitive information.

This could hurt President Obama on the foreign policy front pretty badly. Nothing good will come of this.

[liberation]

5. Everything is relative indeed...

... when the disinfectant kicks in, there is nothing good in it for the infection.

[avaistheone1]

31. Amen

Let some sun shine on it too. Sunshine is a good disinfectant as well.

I am glad about the release. I appreciate what Assange is doing. Our country is going down hill fast, I think we have a right to know what is really going on. All we see daily when we look right and left is the corruption, and the dismissal of the rule of law.

I hope this release will be a helpful revelation.

[Rex]

34. This could hurt American relationships around the world

depends on what the documents say who did what. So he has gone from the military to political information We The People don't get to hear or read about. Hopefully wars don't start or economies don't fall off a cliff over whatever comes out. Political information at that level can be visceral.

I can't even imagine what this guy is thinking.

[Angry Dragon]

6. "Off with their heads"

AN old French saying

How many governments have the officials of this country toppled??
How many foreign nationals has this country sponsored as CIA operatives and then have have declared terrorists??
How many wars have the officials of this country started because we wanted something and had nothing to do with protecting the American people??
If this country had stopped doing things that are illegal or border on the illegal then there would be nothing to fear from any leaked documents.
How many terrorists has this country created in foreign countries?? The only reason we are so concerned about terrorists now is because they came at us instead of just killing people in their own country.

Edit: added word to title

[daleo]

7. The government (regardless of party) puts people through naked scanners

Wikileaks is a sort of naked scanner for them. So there is a kind of poetic justice at work.

[GliderGuider]

8. +1 I love that take on it! /nt

[bemildred]

9. It's scary being accountable for what you say.

Or just being accountable at all. Nobody really wants to be accountable. Being accountable is for the "little people".
:hi:

[daleo]

14. Yes , transparency feels different when you are the one being scanned.

Suddenly the powers-that-be "get it". We will hear a lot about security, but mostly they fear embarrassment.

:hi:

[bemildred]

18. Transparency is for little people too.

The cogitations and deliberations of the likes or George W. Bush and Henry Kissinger are too deep and sensitive for the likes of us to be exposed to. I mean our little minds might crumble from the shock of all that deep thinking!

But the real problem is when you are a shallow, half-smart, ignorant, and self-important pseudo-aristocrat you make really big, expensive mistakes, which are not easily covered up. And when you control a has-been superpower instead of a real one, your bluffs no longer work.

[Bluebear]

10. And a poetic take on the situation! Wish I could recommend your post!! nt

[davidinalameda]

11. definition of irony

leaks being leaked too early?

[kgnu_fan]

12. Each newspapers is working on their own stories and there are so much more information

This leak is not that big deal in the context of big picture... I wonder what LeMonde is working on...

[CLANG]

13. Does anyone know the meaning of this map?

http://www.nrk.no/contentfile/file/1.7401077!img7401077.gif

[daleo]

15. It probably is a graphical representation of the number of leaked documents

Where they originated, and where they were sent.

[bemildred]

16. What are the different colors for? nt

[Poll_Blind]

19. The color could possibly reflect some chronological element?

Or rank of the person sending the cable. Very tough to say. My first guess is something relating to when it was sent.

However, it could ultimately be something as strange as size of circle equals average communication length, color equals number of communcations sent, total. Or vice-versa. Or...

:shrug:

PB

[bemildred]

21. Well, I was thinking different bacterial species, or maybe mineral deposits.

:-)

[Poll_Blind]

22. Ha! Brighter colors mean higher mineral and oil deposits- and desperately in need of Freedom!

;)

PB

[Hissyspit]

17. Here:

"distribution of classified cables by country/region."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9638930

[CLANG]

20. Thanks, Hissy

[Ghost Dog]

30. Large yellowish circle apparently centered on Istanbul;

quite large greenish one centered on Madrid;
smallish reddish one centered on London;
smaller reddish one centered on La Habana...
...

Hmmm. :shrug: All shall be revealed.

[Synnical]

23. Embarrassment for Coalition as Wikileaks prepares to release secret US papers

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/8165041/Embarrassment-for-Coalition-as-Wikileaks-prepares-to-release-secret-US-papers.html

The series of revelations on the Wikileaks website – which are expected to begin tonight – will put a fresh strain on the "special relationship" between Britain and the United States.

The leaked diplomatic cables, dating from January 2009 to June 2010, cover a huge range of issues and include "lively commentaries" sent to Washington about a host of world leaders whose numbers are understood to include David Cameron and Gordon Brown.

Another series of leaks is thought to deal with Canada's "inferiority complex".

[rainbow4321]

24. Got a dumb question: when all this is released

will it be splashed all over where it can be read anywhere in easy format or do I need to go to the Wikileaks website?

[Poll_Blind]

26. Almost certainly at least one of the major newspaper "partners" working with WikiLeaks will...

...set up some kind of semi-indexed search. WikiLeaks may also. Other secondary consumers of the information, like say Wired Magazine may do some sort of guide or, like the majority of media in the U.S. probably just pick and choose individual cables or groups of them.

I would say, though, it's almost always the best bet to actully visit the WikiLeaks site because if history is any predictor of future behavior, they will have all 250,000 cables organized in some fashion. Sometimes the material doesn't lend itself to being easily presented, en masse, but I feel this particular set of data will be.

PB

[2QT2BSTR8]

25. Gird your loins people, its going to be a bumpy ride.

[Catherina]

27. Good stuff. Can't wait until Sunday night's release

International Business Times: Will WikiLeaks unravel the American 'secret government'?

The U.S. Department of State is working overtime sending messages to ally capitals warning the impending release of classified documents by WikiLeaks could harm relations in what is seen as a pre-emptive move of unprecedented scale to neutralize the impact of the unveiling of embarrassing and compromising details about the inner workings of the government apparatus.

After making shattering revelations about the U.S. policy -- and its practice -- in Iraq and Afghanistan, WikiLeaks seems to be targeting this time the core of the U.S. government machinery, especially the subterranean diplomatic channels it employs while cutting deals and enforcing compliance in world capitals.

This knowledge has set off a diplomatic counter-offensive of never-before-seen proportion. The U.S. embassies in allied capitals have been forewarned of the release of documents which could potentially destabilize friendly relations.

...

"Researchers have often pointed out the stark contrast between nation states' declared policies -- and the means to achieve them -- and what actually transpires on the ground. The inner workings, the dark secrets and shady deals never see the light of day until they may be declassified years later, severely undermining democratic values of truth and transparency.

Now WikiLeaks is out to run a knife through a mountain of classified documents revealing how the proverbial 'secret government' works its way through cluttered diplomatic channels. And that certainly could be embarrassing to lots of people in many capitals, more so in Washington.

The Pentagon has already warned the U.S. Senate and House Armed Services Committees that the leaks will “touch on an enormous range of very sensitive foreign policy issues.” “We anticipate that the release could negatively impact U.S. foreign relations,” Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs Elizabeth King said in an e-mail to the defense committees.

...

President Barack Obama's administration will particularly feel the heat as many of the documents to be published relate to the time since he took office.

...

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/86057/20101126/wikileaks-secret-documents-us-state-department-julian-assange-manning-iraq-afghanistan-cia-jfk-kenne.htm

[Pavulon]

28. Look at your next paycheck. The FIT line item will be used to fix it all

so enjoy it, you are paying for it all.

[Catherina]

29. Get some sleep. You're not making any sense. n/t

[Nostradammit]

32. We've been paying for it all along

Decades of dirty deals and nefarious deeds and lies, lies, lies
while our tax dollars go to line the pockets of the obscenely
wealthy who have no moral qualms about making a fortune
off the deaths of innocent children of God.

You bet I'm gonna enjoy it.

[boppers]

35. Two fixes:

1. Don't aggregate sensitive data in centralized places.
2. Don't provide access to data to those who could (not *do*, but *could*) have cause, or motive, to exploit it.

This is not exactly complex tradecraft, this is massive sloppiness exposed (among many other things). I dunno who set up the protocols that exposed this data set, but clearly, I should give them a few minutes of my time, because I apparently know more about basic information security than the entire fucking US State Department... Combined.

Or, here's fix number three:
3. Don't do things that can be used against you later.

That's a bit harder to do, and the biggest problem seems to be that #2 met #1, in one individual, which means that there may be more than one.