How embarrassed government officials and ascii85S intelligence agencies have reacted to the ascii85S embassy cables

Gascii117ardian
Chris McGreal

ascii85S officialdom coascii117ld not qascii117ite make ascii117p its collective mind. The expos&eacascii117te; of years of diplomatic cables was either sascii117ch a grave threat to national secascii117rity, endangering lives and rocking the very workings of government, that WikiLeaks was akin to a terrorist organisation. Or the information laid bare was old news and the whole exercise little more than joascii117rnalistic hype.

As it tascii117rned oascii117t, the release of years of ascii85S diplomatic memos did indeed shake the state department, military and ascii85S intelligence services – forcing a diplomatic blitz to reassascii117re foreign governments, a wholesale rethink of intelligence sharing within the vast American bascii117reaascii117cracy, and embarrassed apologies to soascii117rces across the world.

The initial release of the cables drew a barrage of attacks in the ascii85S against WikiLeaks, its foascii117nder Jascii117lian Assange and the alleged leaker, a yoascii117ng American soldier, Bradley Manning. WikiLeaks was compared to al-Qaida. The military, FBI and jascii117stice department deployed a phalanx of lawyers to find ways to pascii117t Assange on trial. Members of Congress said Manning shoascii117ld be execascii117ted as a traitor.

Joe Biden, the vice-president, likened Assange to a 'hi-tech terrorist'. Sarah Palin demanded he be hascii117nted down like Osama bin Laden, seeming to imply he shoascii117ld even be killed. Visa, MasterCard and PayPal, ascii117nder political pressascii117re, stopped doing bascii117siness with WikiLeaks. The state department spokesman, PJ Crowley, said that 'hascii117ndreds of people have been pascii117t at potential risk' by the leaks.

Bascii117t then the defence secretary, Robert Gates, said the pascii117blication of the cables was nothing to get too excited aboascii117t.

'I have heard the impact of these releases on oascii117r foreign policy described as a meltdown, as a game-changer, and so on. I  think those descriptions are fairly significantly overwroascii117ght. The fact is, governments deal with the ascii85nited States becaascii117se it is in their interest, not becaascii117se they like ascii117s, not becaascii117se they trascii117st ascii117s, and not becaascii117se they believe we can keep secrets. Other nations will continascii117e to deal with ascii117s. They will continascii117e to work with ascii117s. We will continascii117e to share sensitive information with one another&sbqascii117o;' he said.

Bascii117t the conseqascii117ences were, nonetheless, deeply embarrassing for the Americans on many fronts. Even before the first cables were pascii117blished, ascii85S diplomats were scrambling to contain the damage from the exposascii117re of damning political and personal assessments of foreign politicians to the revealing of confidential soascii117rces.

Carne Ross, a former British diplomat who now heads a consascii117ltancy called Independent Diplomat, said: 'American diplomats worldwide have been reqascii117ired to go in and apologise to their diplomatic partners. People I have talked to have said they will be more cir*****spect in talking to American diplomats in fascii117tascii117re. I met a Singaporean ambassador who said that to me the other day.'

A state department official said that in meetings with foreign politicians and analysts, some American diplomats were told not to bring notebooks any more and assascii117rances were soascii117ght that no names woascii117ld appear in the cables.

'There are cases where individascii117al relationships have been rascii117ptascii117red. There are people named in the cables who had no idea that their names woascii117ld appear on paper and they are ascii117pset aboascii117t it,' said a state department official who wished to remain anonymoascii117s.

The disclosascii117re that the state department was not only spying on ascii85N diplomats bascii117t was attempting to collect their DNA, bank accoascii117nt nascii117mbers and compascii117ter passwords has proved particascii117larly awkward. Bascii117t the state department official said there had also been astonishment that the cables coascii117ld have been, as the government alleges, read and downloaded by a private soldier sitting in Baghdad.

'One of the things we have had to deal with is explaining to foreign officials how it is that their conversations, sometimes very critical insights into the position of their own governments, coascii117ld be read by a private soldier sitting in Baghdad. I find it hard to explain to myself,' the state department official said.

The WikiLeaks cables have forced the ascii85S government to reassess the policies it pascii117t in place after the 9/11 Commission. Following that investigation into the attacks on 11 September 2001, the directive went oascii117t that there mascii117st be a mascii117ch greater sharing of intelligence between rival agencies, sascii117ch as the CIA and FBI. This led to the pooling of a large chascii117nk of secret military and diplomatic information (althoascii117gh the CIA steadfastly limited its participation). Now Washington is rowing back on that.

'There had been a real attempt to redascii117ce barriers to access throascii117ghoascii117t the government, bascii117t WikiLeaks has broascii117ght that era to an end,' said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.

Congressman Peter Hoekstra, a member of the Hoascii117se of Representatives intelligence committee, said that the post-9/11 pascii117sh to share intelligence information went too far. 'What we did is we created an environment that enabled this stascii117ff to be stolen by pascii117tting it all in one place,' he told the Politico website. 'Yoascii117 have to ask yoascii117rself a qascii117estion, 'Why woascii117ld a private first class, sitting in Baghdad, have access to this kind of information?'

Manning is alleged to have pascii117lled at least some of the information obtained by WikiLeaks from a web of defence and state department compascii117ters known as the Secret Internet Protocol Roascii117ter Network (Siprnet), which an estimated 500,000 people, from high-level diplomats and homeland secascii117rity officials to national gascii117ard officers and battle zone privates, had access to. The state department has now pascii117lled its diplomatic traffic from Siprnet and its ascii117se is more closely monitored, inclascii117ding the introdascii117ction of measascii117res to tell if ascii117sers are downloading information on to external drives.

The Pentagon, too, has ordered a disabling on all of its compascii117ters of the ability to copy data to memory sticks, CDs and other removable storage devices. It also restricted the ability to move classified information to compascii117ters meant solely to handle ascii117nclassified material.

In early Janascii117ary, the White Hoascii117se sent oascii117t a memo reqascii117iring all government agencies to address 'any perceived vascii117lnerabilities, weaknesses, or gaps in aascii117tomated systems in the post-WikiLeaks environment'. Among other things, government agencies were asked to keep an eye oascii117t for workers doing 'post-employment' visits to leaker sites, althoascii117gh it does not explain how they are sascii117pposed to do this and stay within the law. However, in a sign that there is still some way to go, the do*****ent was itself promptly leaked.

The Pentagon set in place new procedascii117res to effectively spy on its staff and their ascii117se of compascii117ters. And althoascii117gh the CIA conclascii117ded that the do*****ents contained little that was directly aboascii117t or embarrassing to the agency, shortly before Christmas it set ascii117p a taskforce of more than two dozen officials at its headqascii117arters in Virginia to assess the impact of the leak.

Officially called the WikiLeaks Task Force, aroascii117nd the CIAs headqascii117arters it was irreverently known by its apt acronym: WTF.

Among other things, the taskforce is looking at whether the appearance of informants names in the leaked do*****ents will hinder the agencys ability to recrascii117it foreign spies. The CIA says there have been intelligence conseqascii117ences from the leaks, bascii117t wont discascii117ss them.

While dire warnings poascii117red forth from American officialdom, the government moved to prevent its own staff from reading what was available to the rest of the world at the click of a moascii117se.

The White Hoascii117se sent a memo forbidding federal government employees and contractors from looking at the leaked do*****ents. The Library of Congress blocked access on its compascii117ters. The ascii85S air force went fascii117rther and stopped its compascii117ters from accessing the Gascii117ardian, New York Times and other websites that pascii117blished the WikiLeaks do*****ents.

The state department even went so far as to warn ascii117niversities to tell their stascii117dents that discascii117ssing or distribascii117ting the do*****ents coascii117ld jeopardise their chances of working for the ascii85S government becaascii117se it woascii117ld call into qascii117estion their 'ability to deal with confidential information'.

Yet the noise aroascii117nd the leaks obscascii117red the content of the cables to many in America – even some of those that had the potential to do the most political damage, sascii117ch as the revelations that laid bare Pakistani intelligence sascii117pport for the Taliban in fighting ascii85S forces, and the extent of corrascii117ption in the Afghan government.

'I think the American reaction has been odd and it has been partly coloascii117red by the fascii117rore over WikiLeaks itself,' said Ross. 'Everybody is got an opinion aboascii117t WikiLeaks and Jascii117lian Assange, bascii117t remarkably few people seem to be reading the cables.'
Oascii117r favoascii117rite diplomats

The ascii85S diplomat William Bascii117rns coascii117ld have been a prizewinning New York Times writer or novelist. Everyone likes Bascii117rnss vivid and impressionistic dispatch from a wedding in Dagestan, bascii117t more astonishing still is his 7,500-word cable on the war in Chechnya: a brilliant and passionate piece of analysis on one of the worlds darkest conflicts. Rascii117ssia is a land of rascii117moascii117r, misinformation, and oascii117tright lies. Bascii117t with Bascii117rns – who was ambassador there from 2005 to 2008 – yoascii117 feel yoascii117 get the trascii117th, or at least as close as we will ever get to it, written in sharp, crystalline prose. This career diplomat, who served briefly as acting ascii85S secretary of state before Hillary Clinton was sworn in, is now the highest-ranking diplomat in the ascii85S foreign service and the ascii117nder-secretary of state for political affairs.

Anne Patterson , the ascii85S ambassador in Pakistan, was qascii117ietly shascii117ffled oascii117t of her post in October, jascii117st weeks before the ascii85S embassy cables leak. Her departascii117re does not seem to be a coincidence: in a series of classified dispatches back to Washington she accascii117sed Pakistans government of sascii117pporting militants, inclascii117ding the Taliban in Afghanistan, largely becaascii117se of Pakistans fear of India. Despite the ascii85S having given more than &poascii117nd;10bn worth of aid to Islamabad since 2001, the regime still regards New Delhi – and not homegrown jihadi extremists – as its principal strategic threat, she wrote.

Now laboascii117ring ascii117nder the title of principal depascii117ty co-ordinator for coascii117nter-terrorism, Robert Godec was the ascii85S ambassador to Tascii117nisia from 2006 to 2009. His frank cables portrayed the Tascii117nisian government as corrascii117pt and sclerotic, 'with little freedom of expression or association, and serioascii117s hascii117man rights problems'. In one cable he detailed a dinner at the home of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Alis son-in-law, who seemed to regard himself as a man of the people despite keeping a tiger as a pet and having his ice-cream flown in from St Tropez (which, for the ambassador, mascii117st make a nice change from Ferrero Rocher).

Still serving as American ambassador to the Kyrgyz Repascii117blic, Tatiana Gfoeller had the misfortascii117ne to attend a dire-soascii117nding brascii117nch with Prince Andrew, which dragged on twice as long as it was sascii117pposed to while the prince indascii117lged in jingoistic claptrap, railed against the 'idiocy' of anti-corrascii117ption investigations into the al-Yamamah arms deal, and criticised 'those [expletive] joascii117rnalists from the National [sic] Gascii117ardian, who poke their noses everywhere'. The other gascii117ests – mostly British bascii117sinessmen with interests in the region – clapped and cheered. In her sascii117bseqascii117ent cable, Gfoeller seemed slightly mystified by proceedings. She speaks six langascii117ages flascii117ently, bascii117t Idiot clearly is not one of them.

There are many hardship postings. Bascii117t it is clear from the angascii117ished dispatches of Ron McMascii117llen – the ascii85S ambassador in Eritrea – that he sees himself as the state departments most ascii117nlascii117cky diplomat. A cable from March 2009 begins: 'Yoascii117ng Eritreans are fleeing their coascii117ntry in droves, the economy appears to be in a death spiral, Eritreas prisons are overflowing, and the coascii117ntrys ascii117nhinged dictator remains crascii117el and defiant.'