How To Avoid Future Wikileaks -- A Commentary

Too Much Sharing? Inter-Agency Coordination Of Secret Info Must Continue — But With Better Safeguards -- Michael Hayden, Samuel Visner and William Courtney, Baltimore Sun

The disclosure by WikiLeaks of thousands of U.S. diplomatic communications has sparked debate about a key response to the Sept. 11 attacks. Is it wise to share sensitive national security information more widely — including to upwards of a half-million military and civilian defense personnel — to help thwart future terrorism by better "connecting the dots" from fragmentary data? Or is wider sharing an unduly risky ditching of the proven security precept of "need to know?"

We believe wider sharing is wise — but only if aided by sound security practices and advanced technology to protect information. Vital information sharing need not be a victim of WikiLeaks.

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My Comment: Some good ideas here .... read it all.

The Wikileaks Intelligence Disaster Will Probably Undo Post-9/11 Intelligence Reforms

Newspaper fronts reporting on the documents released by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks are seen in New York, on Nov. 29. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

How WikiLeaks Could Undo Post-9/11 Intelligence Reforms -- Christian Science Monitor

A former US diplomat who helped push for the intelligence-sharing reforms aimed at preventing another 9/11 says the WikiLeaks fiasco could prompt a reversal.

Governments are already using the WikiLeaks release of a trove of US diplomatic traffic to bolster their own international agendas, from Israel's push for military action against Iran, to Iran's effort to paint US engagement as insincere.

But the WikiLeaks intelligence fiasco could have far-reaching implications for US diplomacy, well after the initial shock waves subside. By sending a message to America's counterparts and confidential informants around the world that the US can't keep conversations private, the controversy could severely compromise the quality of information US policymakers receive, and America's own ability to coordinate its diplomatic and antiterror efforts.

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My Comment: Unfortunately, undoing post-9/11 intelligence reforms will probably be the end result from the Wikileaks intelligence disaster. Intelligence information will now be compartmentalized, with only those with a need to know being the only ones who will have access to intelligence data. As for the State Department .... this disaster will take years to recover, and unfortunately for Sec. of State Clinton she will be remembered (unjustly) as the person who had this happen on her watch.

Wikileaks Reveals U.S. Intelligence Weaknesses -- A Commentary

US Needs Lesson In 'Secret-Keeping' -- Robert Grenier, Al Jazeera

The WikiLeaks website supposedly carrying some 91,000 US military reports from Afghanistan makes for oddly mesmerising reading.

Having only dedicated a few hours to the task, I can hardly claim even a cursory appreciation for what is there and what it represents. Like most of us, I am forced to rely to a large degree for now on the analyses provided by those media outlets which have had weeks to study and begin to digest the mass of documents.

To this reader, however, there are a few initial impressions that emerge from a quick perusal.

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My Comment: We live in the digital age, in which huge amounts of information can be transferred in minutes from one part of the world to another. The surprise of the Wikileaks story is not that it happened .... the surprise is that it took this long for it to happen.