WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday denounced this week the release of 75,000 documents classified on the war in Afghanistan by the Wikileaks Web site, saying the security breach had endangered lives and damaged the ability of other to trust the government of the United States to protect their secrets.
Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Gates described the documents as "a mountain of raw data and individual prints, most dating back several years" that offered little guidance on current policies and events. But he said the information - which include information identifying the Afghans who helped the United States - were "potentially dramatic consequences and seriously prejudicial."
"The consequences battlefield of the release of these documents are potentially serious and dangerous for our troops, our allies and our Afghan partners, and can damage our reputation and relationships in this part of the world key," he said. "Sources and methods of intelligence and military tactics, techniques and procedures, will be known to our adversaries."
The Times was careful not to disclose information affecting the interests of national security or disclose anything that was likely to put lives at risk or jeopardize military operations or terrorism, withholding all the names operators in the field and the informants cited in the reports. He has not linked the archives of the raw material.
Gates said that disclosure of the documents "had resulted in a change of a trend of nearly two decades, dating from the Persian Gulf War of 1991, trying to make information more accessible to the intelligence of troops in combat situations so they can respond quickly to changes.
"We're trying to push access to sensitive information to the battlefield where it is most useful - on the front line - where, in practice there are fewer restrictions and controls at the backseat he said. "Following this incident, there will be a challenge to find the right balance between security and provide our frontline troops with the information they need."
The army has accused an intelligence analyst, PFC. Bradley Manning with downloading large amounts of classified information from a computer to a base in Iraq and sending it to Wikileaks, which operates from servers scattered in several countries and seeks "classified, censored or other physical constraints of great political, diplomatic or ethical. "
Military officials have said that Army investigators also consider private Manning a "person of interest" in investigating the latest information Web site. They said Thursday that he had been moved from Kuwait to Quantico, Virginia, where he remained in military detention, as it expects further legal action. Wikileaks documents shared with publications in Britain, Germany and the U.S., including the New York Times, before post them this week.
Julian Assange, an Australian computer expert who founded Wikileaks, described the project as a form of journalism that seeks to protect whistleblowers and to strengthen democracy by making public information that government officials want to keep secret.
In a series of media appearances and interviews this week, he defended the latest version by portraying unvarnished problems with the war in Afghanistan, saying his organization had about 15,000 documents withheld for reasons of security.
But when Mr. Gates new conference Thursday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, Wikileaks portrayed as recklessly endangering people to satisfy his "need to make a point." http://jodnet.blogspot.com
"Mr Assange can say what he likes best about the greater good he thinks he and his sources are, but the truth is that they may already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family, "said Admiral Mullen.
Mr Gates said the Army was taking steps to protect certain identified in the Afghans, but he declined to specify. He also declined to comment on the investigation beyond noting that he had urged the Federal Bureau of Investigation to assist investigators in the army, a move that is considered a precursor to potentially charge people who are not uniformed members of service.
A person close to the investigation said the Justice Department lawyers are exploring whether Mr. Assange and Wikileaks could be accused of causing, or conspiring in violation of the Espionage Act, a law in 1917 prohibiting unauthorized disclosure of national security information.
Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Gates described the documents as "a mountain of raw data and individual prints, most dating back several years" that offered little guidance on current policies and events. But he said the information - which include information identifying the Afghans who helped the United States - were "potentially dramatic consequences and seriously prejudicial."
"The consequences battlefield of the release of these documents are potentially serious and dangerous for our troops, our allies and our Afghan partners, and can damage our reputation and relationships in this part of the world key," he said. "Sources and methods of intelligence and military tactics, techniques and procedures, will be known to our adversaries."
The Times was careful not to disclose information affecting the interests of national security or disclose anything that was likely to put lives at risk or jeopardize military operations or terrorism, withholding all the names operators in the field and the informants cited in the reports. He has not linked the archives of the raw material.
Gates said that disclosure of the documents "had resulted in a change of a trend of nearly two decades, dating from the Persian Gulf War of 1991, trying to make information more accessible to the intelligence of troops in combat situations so they can respond quickly to changes.
"We're trying to push access to sensitive information to the battlefield where it is most useful - on the front line - where, in practice there are fewer restrictions and controls at the backseat he said. "Following this incident, there will be a challenge to find the right balance between security and provide our frontline troops with the information they need."
The army has accused an intelligence analyst, PFC. Bradley Manning with downloading large amounts of classified information from a computer to a base in Iraq and sending it to Wikileaks, which operates from servers scattered in several countries and seeks "classified, censored or other physical constraints of great political, diplomatic or ethical. "
Military officials have said that Army investigators also consider private Manning a "person of interest" in investigating the latest information Web site. They said Thursday that he had been moved from Kuwait to Quantico, Virginia, where he remained in military detention, as it expects further legal action. Wikileaks documents shared with publications in Britain, Germany and the U.S., including the New York Times, before post them this week.
Julian Assange, an Australian computer expert who founded Wikileaks, described the project as a form of journalism that seeks to protect whistleblowers and to strengthen democracy by making public information that government officials want to keep secret.
In a series of media appearances and interviews this week, he defended the latest version by portraying unvarnished problems with the war in Afghanistan, saying his organization had about 15,000 documents withheld for reasons of security.
But when Mr. Gates new conference Thursday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, Wikileaks portrayed as recklessly endangering people to satisfy his "need to make a point." http://jodnet.blogspot.com
"Mr Assange can say what he likes best about the greater good he thinks he and his sources are, but the truth is that they may already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family, "said Admiral Mullen.
Mr Gates said the Army was taking steps to protect certain identified in the Afghans, but he declined to specify. He also declined to comment on the investigation beyond noting that he had urged the Federal Bureau of Investigation to assist investigators in the army, a move that is considered a precursor to potentially charge people who are not uniformed members of service.
A person close to the investigation said the Justice Department lawyers are exploring whether Mr. Assange and Wikileaks could be accused of causing, or conspiring in violation of the Espionage Act, a law in 1917 prohibiting unauthorized disclosure of national security information.
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