# Is Wikileaks a threat to United States national security. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 30, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526 "2011-01-30T18:02:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ZebStrickland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/96bed5/32.png) [@ZebStrickland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebStrickland)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/1 "2011-01-30T18:02:10Z")
I am a public forum debater and i am curious to see both sides of this debate. I want to see the public’s opinion on this matter because it was one of my favorite debate topics. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/2 "2011-01-30T18:04:30Z")
Personally, I’d say US incompetence is a threat to US national security, not Wikileaks. Clean house when your people do evil or stupid things, instead of trying to cover it up, and the “threat” of Wikileaks disappears. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/3 "2011-01-30T21:22:27Z")
Even with “Good” people in government, any government, there will always be information that should be classified. As for Wikileaks, from what I’ve heard in the news, so far the only information that has been released has been embarrassing in nature but not dangerous to the US; Things like diplomats saying unkind things about foreign leaders for example. Wikileaks has the potential to harm the US, or other countries for that matter, but so far the damage, if any, has mostly been to our pride. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/4 "2011-01-30T22:16:03Z")
Wikileaks is just a medium and if it were shut down tomorrow, something comparable would take its place. The threat (if there is one) comes from people who give Wikileaks information in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/5 "2011-01-30T23:20:37Z")
We hide far too much in our government. We make lunch menus top secret We are supposed to be involved in our governmental processes to be a good citizen. How do we do that if everything they do ,they declare off limits?. We should have a lot less secrets. They are supposed to be acting in our behalf and represent us. I wish wikileaks let more out. Rumors are they are about to release internal Emails from the financial companies that trashed our economy. That will be great. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/6 "2011-01-30T23:30:59Z")
Wikileaks is exactly as threatening as the rest of the journalism industry-- they do actively seek to gather pretty much any information that the US government would like to keep secret, and then publish all of it. This is not new, except that Wikileaks seems to be pretty good at it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/7 "2011-01-31T03:45:41Z")
An FYI - Julian Assange was interviewed on “60 Minutes” tonight - we caught part of the interview, and it was very good. ---
**Author:** ![deanc2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/53a042/32.png) [@deanc2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deanc2000)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/8 "2011-01-31T03:46:29Z")
Well, I’m watching the 60 minutes piece with Julian Assange right now and what he’s saying is making a lot of sense. Think about it. You buy a newspaper and assume that what you read is impartial and non-biased. The thing is though, newspapers, CNN, FOX, all these media outlets are OWNED by big corporations, so impartiality goes out the window. Anyone who’s watched FOX news knows they has a bias towards Conservativism, whereas CNN is partial to Liberals. Wikileaks is an entity where the sources are within organizations and have no motivation other than to release the truth. How else are people to obtain such unbiased information? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/9 "2011-01-31T03:52:19Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > Wikileaks is exactly as threatening as the rest of the journalism industry-- they do actively seek to gather pretty much any information that the US government would like to keep secret, and then publish all of it. \ I disagree with this - the rest of the journalism industry is interested in entertainment, not information. I also think the mainstream journalism is too happy to “play the game” - if you ask the wrong questions, you don’t get to do the interview, so you don’t ask any questions not on the approved list. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/10 "2011-01-31T03:56:12Z")
Can anyone point to even one instance of Wikileaks causing legitimate harm (i.e. beyond someone being embarrassed)? Remember how Wikileaks works. They are not tossing out any old info to the world. They give access to their info to major media organizations. Those media organizations then use that to do their own work. A free press is probably the most crucial thing to the maintenance of a free society. The media organizations, after their own follow-ups and legal analysis, publishes what they think they should. I am missing the part where Wikileaks is the evil organization the US government would like to paint it as. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/11 "2011-01-31T04:09:14Z")
What’s going to happen is that all governments, corporations and other parties that want their communications secure are going to find new procedures and technologies to make them more secure. Then hackers and leakers and whistleblowers will find ways around those procedures, and make more exposes, and the process repeats. That’s how it will be from now on. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/12 "2011-01-31T04:28:16Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > What’s going to happen is that all governments, corporations and other parties that want their communications secure are going to find new procedures and technologies to make them more secure. Then hackers and leakers and whistleblowers will find ways around those procedures, and make more exposes, and the process repeats. That’s how it will be from now on. Doesn’t matter when the government just pulls the plug (as was done in Egypt recently). Scarily the US is considering legislation to be able to do exactly that (bolding below is mine). > [@](#): > > What can an undemocratic government to do to control its people? If tear gas and rubber bullets don’t work, take away their Twitter and Facebook access, of course. And if the people still don’t fall into line, cut off their Internet and mobile phone access entirely. That’s exactly what the Egyptian government did today when confronted with citizenry taking to the streets and demanding regime change. The surprising thing isn’t that a corrupt, authoritarian regime would launch this kind of state-sponsored denial off service attack on its own citizens. Nor that it is willing to jeopardize its economy by cutting its businesses off from world markets. No,\*\* the thing that surprises me is that the U.S. government has plans for its own Internet Kill Switch. > > The legislation was first introduced last summer by Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), and the former has promised to bring it to the floor again in 2011. It isn’t called anything as obvious as the Internet Kill Switch, of course. It is called the “Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act.”\*\* > > SOURCE: [Egypt Flips Internet Kill Switch. Will the U.S.? | PCMag](http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2376905,00.asp) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/13 "2011-01-31T04:31:50Z")
Do your own research, you lazy bum! If my debaters have to dig up their own cites, so do you. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/14 "2011-01-31T08:58:48Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Doesn’t matter when the government just pulls the plug (as was done in Egypt recently). > > Scarily the US is considering legislation to be able to do exactly that (bolding below is mine). Even if this exists, I don’t see it ever being used by the US. Egypt and the US are hardly comparable, one is a highly developed nation where e-commerce contributes hundreds of millions (if not billions (?)) to the economy, not to mention the use of e-mail in day-to-day life and business, and the other is Egypt. Besides, FWIR, there’s people who have started working on mechanisms for circumventing any “kill switch” anyway. RE: the debate. Wikileaks is here, and similar websites have already started popping up all over the place. The cat is out of the bag as far as the concept goes. It was only a matter of time anyway. We’ve always had leaks, and the Internet was used for news and reporting almost from the get-go. I’m surprised the two were not connected much sooner. ETA: US e-commerce was worth $107 billion in 2006. [Cite](http://usa.usembassy.de/economy-ecommerce.htm). The chances of the “killswitch” ever being pulled because of a leak are zero. ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/15 "2011-01-31T10:58:56Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > Wikileaks is here, and similar websites have already started popping up all over the place. The cat is out of the bag as far as the concept goes. It was only a matter of time anyway. We’ve always had leaks, and the Internet was used for news and reporting almost from the get-go. I’m surprised the two were not connected much sooner. I must disagree, I’m more pessimistic. Wikileaks and the like can only function by the grace of the Whistleblower. Assange is not the whistleblower, _he_ is being kept in an isolation cell and being (semi-)tortured, remember. This is the equivalent of a show hanging and is meant to scare potential whistleblowers, whom the investigative journalist of old and new media depend upon to bring out the information. Information **we** need, to form balanced opinions. How else can you have a democracy? The way we treat our whistleblowers is totally unacceptable. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/16 "2011-01-31T13:23:06Z")
Assange should be locked up and made an example of. He’s full of shit. In the interview, he says that he’s not against privacy, and that private entities (companies) should be allowed to have private information, but that _governments_ need to be transparent. Now that is a defensible position, to a degree, but his credibility on this is completely undermined by his threatening to disclose information from private companies like Bank of America. Here’s the deal, I think we can all agree that governments should be more transparent and that probably way to much information is classified as not for our eyes. But a governments needs to have some stuff classified. Who is to decide how much? Well, how about the people we elect. If people are so intent on having more information made available to them, a candidate should run on the platform and the people should vote for him or her. Assange is subverting the democratic process. We elect leaders to make all sorts of decisions for us, including what should be classified as “secret”, “top secret”, whatever. If we don’t like where they draw the lines, we simply elect people who draw them where we prefer them. Assange is a childish ideologue who thinks his opinion is more important than anyone else’s. We should deal with him, and anyone else who deals in this area swiftly and harshly. While the technological cat may be out of the bag, we can make the cost of leaking and dispensing such information en masse so high as no one would want to pay the price if caught. I’m of the mind that the U.S., like probably most governments, classifies too much material as not for your eyes and would like to see it loosened up for greater transparency. I also think that U.S. citizens have the right to have Obama or whoever else they elect to make these decisions for them, make them. No one elected Assange. Lock him up and throw away the key, leaving room for whoever follows him. The traitor, Bradley Manning, should be dealt with in the most severe manner allowed by the laws on the books. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/17 "2011-01-31T16:55:20Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Assange should be locked up and made an example of. He’s full of shit. In the interview, he says that he’s not against privacy, and that private entities (companies) should be allowed to have private information, but that _governments_ need to be transparent. Now that is a defensible position, to a degree, but his credibility on this is completely undermined by his threatening to disclose information from private companies like Bank of America. Shouldn’t you wait to find out what he’d be disclosing before you jump to such a conclusion? If they’ve been committing fraud, for example (as they’d already been accused of doing by the US government), wouldn’t that justify a whistleblower ratting them out, and Wikileaks helping to distribute that information? > [@](#): > > Here’s the deal, I think we can all agree that governments should be more transparent and that probably way to much information is classified as not for our eyes. But a governments needs to have some stuff classified. Who is to decide how much? Well, how about the people we elect. Once the people you elect choose to abuse this privilege to cover up the crimes of their underlings, they have forfeited any claim to this power. Just like if you find an employee stealing from the till, you don’t let them go back to work so they can do it again. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/18 "2011-01-31T17:05:00Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Once the people you elect choose to abuse this privilege to cover up the crimes of their underlings, they have forfeited any claim to this power. Just like if you find an employee stealing from the till, you don’t let them go back to work so they can do it again. I must have missed the part where Wikileaks exposed crimes committed and covered up by our government leaders. Who, specifically, was illegally covering up crimes by classifying information? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/19 "2011-01-31T17:27:39Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I must have missed the part where Wikileaks exposed crimes committed and covered up by our government leaders. Who, specifically, was illegally covering up crimes by classifying information? Here’s one: > [@](#): > > In its early analysis of the Iraq war logs released by whistleblower site WikiLeaks on Friday, the German paper Der Spiegel pointed to several accounts of what it calls “dubious attacks” by US Apache helicopters that may have amounted to war crimes. > > \ > > “The document leaves little doubt that this was a deadly attack on people who clearly wanted to surrender,” Der Spiegel comments. “An additional protocol to the Geneva Conventions on the protection of victims of international armed conflicts states that a person who ‘clearly expresses an intention to surrender’ is ‘hors de combat’ and therefore ‘shall not be made the object of attack.’ That raises the question of whether the pilots involved in the Feb. 22, 2007 incident might have committed a war crime.” > > SOURCE: [http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/10/wikileaks-logs-war-crimes/](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/10/wikileaks-logs-war-crimes/) ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526/20 "2011-01-31T17:35:42Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > We hide far too much in our government. We make lunch menus top secret > We are supposed to be involved in our governmental processes to be a good citizen. How do we do that if everything they do ,they declare off limits?. We should have a lot less secrets. They are supposed to be acting in our behalf and represent us. > I wish wikileaks let more out. Rumors are they are about to release internal Emails from the financial companies that trashed our economy. That will be great. You know, there are certain things like military secrets, :dubious: And a lot of these leaks don’t benefit anyone (except the leakers who get worshipped by the left and some libetarians as a “hero”) but hurt a whole bunch of people and American interests. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wikileaks-a-threat-to-united-states-national-security/569526.md?page=2)