Cablegate

WikiLeaks Cablegate (Copyright: Courage is Contagious)

From Watergate to Cablegate, leaked communications between the US State Department and its diplomatic missions around the world are sparking resignations, controversy and some say contributing to revolution and revolt!

In November 2010, the era of Watergate handed the baton to Cablegate, a massive leak of United States diplomatic cables. The organization responsible for “dripping” this information to the public is Wikileaks, an international non-profit organization founded by Julian Assange, which is dedicated to exposing societal and governmental injustices through the release of sensitive, classified and previously hidden information. Cablegate as it has come to be known, involves 251,287 sensitive communications between the US State Department and its 250+ diplomatic offices located around the world.

The first leak of cables occurred on November 28, 2010 with the release of 220 diplomatic cables. The supposed source of this sensitive material is disgruntled Pfc. Bradley Manning who allegedly smuggled information to the Wikileaks organization via data downloaded onto a Lady Gaga CD. Wikileaks distributed this information via major news organizations such as the Guardian and the New York Times. The response was powerful and varied, ranging from some US politicians calling Wikileaks a terrorist organization and Assange a criminal who should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law to others hailing Assange a hero risking his life to bring key issues and deceptive practices to the public’s attention.

The Wikileaks diplomatic cables have highlighted an array of topics and subject matter. In one of the first articles by the New York Times, readers were introduced to diplomatic projections about the eventual collapse of North Korea and the sexual appetite of Italian politician Silvio Berlisconi. There was information on the “Let’s Make a Deal” atmosphere surrounding the release and exchange of Guantanamo Bay prisoners and the facts surrounding the Chinese infiltration and hacking of the Google.com website.

Currently, thousands of sensitive documents have been published online by Wikileaks and its hundreds of mirror sites established on the web as a security tactic. And each day and week, more information continues to be posted by news organizations such as The Guardian and more recent Wikileaks national partners such as The Hindu, Haaretz.com and others including the Washington Post.