WikilLeaks has been getting a lot of press as of late for the classified files of the U.S. government it has published on the internet. The site is publishing nearly a quarter million classified U.S. diplomatic cables. There has been a lot of talk in the past few years about having a transparent government. Is this really what the country was after? If it is, the full repercussions of this transparency have not been thought out.
The U.S. state department was sent out in a scramble this week to prepare the international community for leaked documents.
“The release of hundreds of thousands of State Department cables is expected this weekend, although WikiLeaks has not been specific about the timing. The cables are thought to include private, candid assessments of foreign leaders and governments and could erode trust in the U.S. as a diplomatic partner.” more
Is recording all the private calls between government leaders and their personal assessments of people really what we mean by transparent government? Can you image trying to run a government dealing with countries like Iran, North Korea, China and others where a third party tells those other leaders what your actually thinking behind close doors? You are basically left trying to win a chess match while having to tell your opponent why you are making each move. I am sure it is hard enough to build a rapport with some of these leaders, and it has to be impossible when someone is telling that person, behind your back, the concerns you have about trusting them. How do you continue to build relationships with leaders who now know you have called them "risk averse and rarely creative" or "feckless" and "vain." This leaders now now any conversation they have with the U.S. maybe read to the world. How likely do you think these leaders are to be honest with us now?
WikiLeaks says it is disclosing the information because the White House is trying to cover up "human rights abuse and other criminal behavior." It must take a lot of effort to find the connection between human rights violations and telling the world what has been said in private talks between the U.S. and the Saudi King about Iran.
The Secretary of State has spent her time this past week reaching out to our friends, and those we are trying to befriend, in order to soften the blow of what has been said in these private conversations. How is the U.S. expected to build relationships this way? The Italian PM has been scrambling this past week to explain the comments made about him in these documents.
The job of getting other countries to trust us just got A LOT harder.
If Roosevelt during World War II had to deal with this type of transparency I think the outcome of WWII may have been different. How do you maintain fragile alliances and public support tif the press tells the world of every mistake or mishap.
I am all for government transparency but there are certain areas of the government where this applies to more then others. Certain things in the government need to be filtered so we can build relationships and handle explosive situation as gently as possible.
The most interesting part of this mess is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks is an Australian. A person from outside the U.S. has created a website to expose all the secrets of the U.S. and destroy its standing in the world.
