Some of documents are said to be as recent as last February, from what I've seen so far the Obama Administration is in for a ton of embarrassment. Since some go back at least as far as January 2000 I don't think George Bush is going to get off too easy either.. How much damage to National Security will they cause? Hard to say, the Times reports some are marked Secret and some are just routine reports of no significance
At this moment the WikiLeaks Website is not accessible, like closing the barn door after the cows all got out. Like it or not this stuff is now public information.. Every intelligence agency, media outlet, politician and informed person in the world is going to be reading the stuff. For the next several days I'll post some of the most interesting as I find them..
Starting with Cables Obtained by WikiLeaks Shine Light Into Secret Diplomatic Channels, by SCOTT SHANE and ANDREW W. LEHREN in the New York times
Just click on the title up there to read the entire thing. I'm only posting a few highlights.
This one should play out well considering the current situation in Korea.. I'm sure the Chinese, South Koreans and that fat little dictator in North Korea will love it.
¶ Gaming out an eventual collapse of North Korea: American and South Korean officials have discussed the prospects for a unified Korea, should the North’s economic troubles and political transition lead the state to implode. The South Koreans even considered commercial inducements to China, according to the American ambassador to Seoul. She told Washington in February that South Korean officials believe that the right business deals would “help salve” China’s “concerns about living with a reunified Korea” that is in a “benign alliance” with the United StatesYes, I'm sure you lefties all remember the promises to close Gitmo? Look like the Administration tried... but bribes only go so far...
¶ Bargaining to empty the Guantánamo Bay prison: When American diplomats pressed other countries to resettle detainees, they became reluctant players in a State Department version of “Let’s Make a Deal.” Slovenia was told to take a prisoner if it wanted to meet with President Obama, while the island nation of Kiribati was offered incentives worth millions of dollars to take in Chinese Muslim detainees, cables from diplomats recounted. The Americans, meanwhile, suggested that accepting more prisoners would be “a low-cost way for Belgium to attain prominence in EuropeAll the rumours about corruption in the Afghanistan Government, looks like there might be something to them... Geezus, 58,000,000.00 in cash?
¶ Suspicions of corruption in the Afghan government: When Afghanistan’s vice president visited the United Arab Emirates last year, local authorities working with the Drug Enforcement Administration discovered that he was carrying $52 million in cash. With wry understatement, a cable from the American Embassy in Kabul called the money “a significant amount” that the official, Ahmed Zia Massoud, “was ultimately allowed to keep without revealing the money’s origin or destinationJust a little spying on UN Officials...this should make our friends and enimies both happy. from a dispatch dated Friday, 31 July 2009, 20:24 and published in the UK Guardian.
A classified directive which appears to blur the line between diplomacy and spying was issued to US diplomats under Hillary Clinton's name in July 2009, demanding forensic technical details about the communications systems used by top UN officials, including passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and commercial networks for official communications.The UK Guardian has a number of the dispatches published..... Secret US embassy cables taken from a cache of 250,000 cables leaked to the Guardian by whistleblowers' website WikiLeaks
It called for detailed biometric information "on key UN officials, to include undersecretaries, heads of specialised agencies and their chief advisers, top SYG [secretary general] aides, heads of peace operations and political field missions, including force commanders" as well as intelligence on Ban's "management and decision-making style and his influence on the secretariat". A parallel intelligence directive sent to diplomats in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi said biometric data included DNA, fingerprints and iris scans.
Washington also wanted credit card numbers, email addresses, phone, fax and pager numbers and even frequent-flyer account numbers for UN figures and "biographic and biometric information on UN Security Council permanent representatives".
Many of them seem to indicate Iran has a problem with their neighbors, one that some of their neighbors, like the Saudis would appreciate if the United States eliminated..
Just the dispatches from the Guardian are enough to keep you up reading all night, most of them don't seem worth the effort, or the loss of sleep..
In the morning I'll dig a little deeper into what else has been leaked....Maybe by then the WikiLeak site will be open again.
Corruption in Afghanistan is already well-known. Not a surprise there is talk of a unified Korea. I'm sure that's been a topic of conversation for decades. Clearer why it's so hard to close Guantanamo - no one wants the current inhabitants...period. Not new info here either.
ReplyDeleteWhat's new for me is the Saudi's interest in seeing the U.S. take Iran on and the State Dept's interest in collecting data on UN officials.
I found an article that describes additional electronic-based security measures put in place to prevent sensitive documents from being copied or duplicated. I'm sure someone is checking activity more regularly now. Geez.
BYW,, something else you caught.. there is no way a PFC should have the ability to access this much information from both the Pentagon and the State Department. Something else going on..
ReplyDelete...access that it would go so totally unnoticed. For me, this is where the story is...so far. PFC Manning becomes conflicted, gets help from old friends to hack, connects up with Wikileaks (I never heard of them before, but that doesn't mean anything), and then a fellow hacker gets uncomfortable with knowing what's happening and turns him in. Made for Hollywood...there's more to this than we will ever know. Manning will be in military court away from reporters. Gates answer on this issue was anemic:
ReplyDeletehttp://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/11/28/wikileaks.security/
"According to the charges against him, he was able to not only download documents for which he had clearance but was able to gain access to information that "knowingly exceeded his authorization access."
ReplyDeleteIf it exceeded his access level and his need to know.. WTF did he have access to begin with?
Sounds like he has a supervisor who needs the be evaluated..
Think maybe Panetta will resurrect Political Assassinations? Heard that is on the table for obl and that American born cleric hiding out in Yemen. Perhaps Julian Assange should also be on the hit list.
ReplyDeleteAssange is in hiding according to some reports.
ReplyDeleteGood question Grumpy...how did he navigate into areas that exceeded his clearance level and need to know? Perhaps Manning did the military a favor by revealing how vulnerable the system is to access and copying, undetected electronically and visually. Given the amount of data he accessed and copied to his personal computer, the system should have picked something up, not unlike your bank or credit card if unusual activity is noticed or as Grumpy suggests a supervisor.
Wonder if we could talk the Israeli's into doing us a favor..
ReplyDeleteDFTTS,, I was a battalion S2 Clerk foe a while in Germany.. I had control of all the Classified Documents at Battalion level.. Not that much, it all fit into a 5 drawer file cabinet style safe.. One drawer was for material classified as NATO Secret..
ReplyDeleteTwice a year we'd get a MI Inspection.. Three ranking NCO's would audit the safe. These guys where cleared for everything in the world... except one of them would not have a NATO rider on his clearences..
At some point during the inspection, that person would try to get access to the NATO drawer.. If I let it happen... I'd fail the inspection, and be in a boatload of trouble.
I find it hard to believe this guy had that kind of unfettered access
Grumpy: Today, in restricted access areas, people cannot enter with a cell phone because of the photo capabilities. So, I am having trouble understanding how Manning entered a secure area with his personal computer, or any devices that would have allowed copying from the secure computer (like a Flash drive). So I agree, that there was a physical breakdown in security in this work space. No one saw him spending so much time with his lap top there? Something doesn't sit with me quite right on this point.
ReplyDeleteHowever, his ability to log on to the network beyond his authorization is a problem of a different sort. His unfettered access, as you mention, seems to have been a weakness in the electronic security protections. Gates indicated that copying will no longer be possible, which means the code has been changed to block that type of activity. News reports put Manning with hackers, who spend their days and lives breaking into spaces. This part of the story is still vague, and doesn't sit quite right with me either.
Notice that the focus of MSM is on Wikileaks and not how the leak was possible in the first place.
Sometimes it's a good idea for me not to add personal opinion... so all I'll say is someone with a rank closer to Gates than manning needs to be hung..
ReplyDelete===========================
The young Army Pfc. suspected of stealing the diplomatic memos, many of them classified, and feeding them to WikiLeaks may have defeated Pentagon security systems using little more than a Lady Gaga CD and a portable computer memory stick.
The soldier, Bradley Manning has not been charged in the latest release of internal U.S. government documents. But officials said he is the prime suspect partly because of his own description of how he pulled off a staggering heist of classified and restricted material.
"No one suspected a thing," Manning told a confidant afterward, according to a log of his computer chat published by Wired.com. "I didn't even have to hide anything."
x....x.....x
In his Internet chat, Manning described the conditions as lax to the point that he could bring a homemade music CD to work with him, erase the music and replace it with secrets. He told the computer hacker who would turn him in that he lip-synched along with pop singer Lady Gaga's hit "Telephone" while making off with "possibly the largest data spillage in American history."
Wired.com published a partial log of Manning's discussions with hacker R. Adrian Lamo in June.
"Weak servers, weak logging, weak physical security, weak counterintelligence, inattentive signal analysis," Manning wrote. "A perfect storm."
===============================
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_wikileaks_security
"Weak servers, weak logging, weak physical security, weak counterintelligence, inattentive signal analysis," Manning wrote. "A perfect storm."
ReplyDeleteThat's what it is sounding like. But still not sitting with me quite right.
Just before shutting down and heading to bed, I find the Russian take on the Wikileaking event and covered in the Christian Science Monitor. The fact they comment at all is interesting and so is their point of view. Can't say more than that tonight...too tired. Take a look if you are inclined:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2010/1129/WikiLeaks-Russians-smell-anti-Obama-conspiracy
What some other world leaders are saying about the "leak."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2033522,00.html?xid=rss-mostpopular
What does Assange get out of all this, I wonder?
"Say what you will about Julian Assange, founder of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, but his work has shown him to be pretty fearless."
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2028283,00.html#ixzz16lb9qAZR
Interesting Article... Also heard some people are claiming Darth, I mean Dick Cheney is behind it..
ReplyDeleteIt that is the case it would mean there's a lack of confidence in Obama at the Pentagon... It gets even more interesting when you consider these leaks are from the State Department..
There is someone at State who is a master at Palace Intrigue and could benefit from a major Obama embarrasement
I would love to say what Manning did was not possible...However...let me tell you a little story.
ReplyDeleteIn my early days with the military I worked exclusively with nuclear missiles. My job was to make sure no one ran off with them.
We had a procedure called a "no lone zone". This is an area where no one was allowed to be without someone else with them. Cuts down on the possibility of hanky panky.
Information was compartmentalized. Maintenance was not aware of the information that security or the launch crew had. Another way of cutting down on hanky panky.
People, being people, develop friendships, and in turn they trusted one another. The key to hanky panky.
Everything that had to do with information was in protecting it from an outside source. That changed in the 80's with the multiple breeches of security from the inside.
A huge overhaul of procedures began to begin looking for threats from within and from without.
Manning was able to do what he did because of the weaknesses of human beings. Everyone from his immediate boss, to Gates need to be replaced if not charged with dereliction.
Looks like Assange is not done keeping us engaged with data that is flooding in his direction. He says that he will reveal tens of thousands of internal documents from a major U.S. bank, but remains vague on any details. "The data dump will lay bare the finance firm’s secrets on the Web for every customer, every competitor, every regulator to examine and pass judgment on."
ReplyDeleteWhere does the money come from to support the "leak" business? Any thoughts? Assange ain't no Robin Hood in my view.
Oops...hit send to fast. Here's the source of the quote above.
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/11/29/wikileaks-julian-assange-wants-to-spill-your-corporate-secrets/
That's a big question DFTTS,, Even assuming Manning was motivated by some kind of Idealism... and donated what he stole Assange has living, hiding and operational costs
ReplyDeleteHiding from the covert agents of several countries and maintaining a high profile at the same time won't be cheap
Grumpy: I did a little bit of reading on Wikileaks and find that people associated with it claim they are "volunteers." As you say, even volunteers need to eat, sleep, and run the business. At least here in Grumpy's blog world, some of the "big questions" get asked, while the mainstream outlets flap their jaws on the gossip-like commentary. At least that's how I see it.
ReplyDeleteBased on what I have read so far, I believe this is a hacker event. They have let the world know they can find "holes" in any so-called "secure" network and have a willing publisher for what is found. Maybe some also think releasing information provides a service to the world. All this sure makes for a 007 screenplay.
Speculation that the major bank is B of A. According to a 2009 interview, Assange said: "We are sitting on 5BG from Bank of America, one of the executive's hard drive......" That seems to translate into about 600,000 pages and apparently not the only financial institution they have "stuff" on.
ReplyDeletehttp://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/wikileaks-next-target-bank-of-america/?src=twrhp
We'll see what other shoes they may drop, but I think they've stirred up a hornet's nest. I think I'll watch a chick-flick tonight and escape from all this intrigue.....
I was think about the James Bond plot myself a little earlier.. Always one guy with the power to screw up, or blow up the world.
ReplyDeleteWhen does Assange send the ransom note demanding his 100 Billion Euros in Gold?
Will Jack Bauer find him in time?
Will the most straight laced member of this website really watch a chick flick?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1279935/
ReplyDeleteThere's a yellow button, Watch Trailer, select it to see an example of what is in the "chick flick" department. I laughed a lot.
Well Crap, guess I should have sold that BOA stock. It was profit sharing from the years I worked for Barnett and BOA. It took a dive and looks like it might take another. CRAP
ReplyDeleteDFTTS, laughing is good for you. I wasn't expecting the "chick flick" comment, couldn't pass it up.. The trailer looks hilarious..
ReplyDeleteFishy, BOA's been mentioned.. I've tried a few times to access the WikiLeaks Website, ain't happening.. Sould be more info coming out today.
Meantime, with everyones attention diverted, wonder what Pelosi/Reid are trying to sneak past us?
At the request of a Swedish Court looking into alleged sex crimes, Interpol has placed Mr. Assange on their most wanted list. "The 'Red Notice' is not an international arrest warrant. It is an advisory and request, issued to 188 member countries "to assist the national police forces in identifying or locating those persons with a view to their arrest and extradition," according to Interpol." Assange says it's a set up. He gave an interview on Monday to Time magazine from an undisclosed location. Assange stated the banks and the financial sector are next on his leak list. Now he's stirred up more hornet's nests. That sector will pressure to protect itself. The movie "Michael Clayton" comes to mind. I wonder where 007 is?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/11/30/sweden.interpol.assange/index.html?hpt=T1
P.S. The U.S. Congress is getting ready for Christmas holidays and wondering how secure their computer system and email is.
Hopefully it's not tied into the Pentagon or State Department's system
ReplyDeleteOn second thought, It might be fun to try and figure out what the really do on Capitol Hill.
"Sixty percent of the Defense Department's computer system is now equipped with software capable of "monitoring unusual data access or usage."
ReplyDeleteThat's according to an e-mail Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman sent to reporters on Sunday, a few hours before WikiLeaks published diplomatic cables that revealed a spiderweb of secrets covering nearly every crisis, controversy and diplomatic headache involving the U.S.
"Only 60 percent? That's ridiculous. You would never hear a corporation saying they have anything less than 90 percent cyber security," said Hemu Nigam who has worked for two decades in computer security.
WikiLeaks ramifications
He has collaborated with the U.S. Secret Service, Interpol and the FBI to implement a hacker identification program for Microsoft. Nigam was also one of the first Justice Department Internet predator prosecutors. He left that job, he said, because the Motion Picture Association of America recruited him to help launch its anti-piracy department."
Sixty percent of the Defense Department's computer system is now equipped with software capable of "monitoring unusual data access or usage."
That's according to an e-mail Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman sent to reporters on Sunday, a few hours before WikiLeaks published diplomatic cables that revealed a spiderweb of secrets covering nearly every crisis, controversy and diplomatic headache involving the U.S.
"Only 60 percent? That's ridiculous. You would never hear a corporation saying they have anything less than 90 percent cyber security," said Hemu Nigam who has worked for two decades in computer security.
WikiLeaks ramifications
He has collaborated with the U.S. Secret Service, Interpol and the FBI to implement a hacker identification program for Microsoft. Nigam was also one of the first Justice Department Internet predator prosecutors. He left that job, he said, because the Motion Picture Association of America recruited him to help launch its anti-piracy department.
So we are deploying systems that are only 60% secure and have access to everything the Pentagon and State Department have in "Forward" areas of combat zones.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I want to ask any more questions..
According to the article, the 60% is an improvement over what was available prior to Pfc. Manning and Wikileaks.
ReplyDeleteHere's another view I found interesting:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/11/30/mcnulty.wikileaks.journalism/index.html?hpt=T2
"We all understand how illegal it is to reveal state secrets, even those that are classified secret for no good reason. We also know that over the years, governments have lied to the American people in the name of national security, whether about preparations for war or dealings with our allies and enemies.
Journalists take comfort in the saying about sunlight being the best disinfectant, and usually that is true. Abraham Lincoln expressed the same sentiment this way: "Let the people know the facts and the country will be safe."
I know there is risk in having these illegally obtained insights into government discussions and calculations, but we should not allow others to use this to attack a free media or to create more government secrecy.
During a conversation with my journalism class on the WikiLeaks controversy yesterday, the graduate students considered both overreactions as potential dangers -- that these leaks will provide an excuse to curtail our constitutional freedoms and that government will become even more duplicitous.
And that would be a real crime."
DFTTS, Open and transparent sounds good in theory. It's almost funny how a government that routinely "leaks' confidential information to the press, (by people not authorized to speak), gets upset when someone else does it. Maybe they shouldn't set the example.
ReplyDeleteThe truth of the matter is government needs to be able to keep secrets. So far it looks like we got off fairly lucky, this time. No single document seems to that damaging. But it's not over..
We have proven to the world we're incapible of being trusted with even the most minor secrets or opinions. You don't talk about your personal life to the office gossip.. same principle, just on a different level.
There is another level of damage that may hurt us for decades. Intellegence services all over the world are going to be taking bits and pieces of the documents.. and piecing them together. When they are finished they will have a better idea how we will act or react to any situation than we will,
Intellegence gathering is a slow process, someone notices part of an conversation here, fits with a converstion there and look what's going on there, big jigsaw puzzle. The world just got handed most of the pieces, all they have to do is put them together,
Drip, drip, drip. Leaking continues while Assange remains on the lamb. Reports indicate he's hiding out in Britain.
ReplyDeleteToday's reports include:
"One batch of the latest leaked dispatches — these from the U.S. Embassy staff in Turkmenistan — portrays the president of the former Soviet state in Central Asia, Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov, as "vain, suspicious, guarded, strict, very conservative, a practiced liar," and "not a very bright guy."
"According to another one of the cables, Georgia's ambassador in Rome claimed that Berlusconi was promised a cut of the profits in energy deals with Russia. Berlusconi denied the allegation."
"The documents also included a frank assessment from the American envoy to Stockholm about Sweden's historic policy of nonalignment — a policy that the U.S. ambassador, Michael Woods, seemed to suggest was for public consumption only."
"
Sweden's military and intelligence cooperation with the U.S. "give the lie to the official policy" of non-participation in military alliances, Woods said. He added in a separate cable that Sweden's defense minister fondly remembers his time as a high school student in America and "loves the U.S."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101203/ap_on_re_us/wikileaks
This morning Wikileaks is begin described as the first Info War. It's American server has cut its service to Wikileaks after unrelenting cyber attacks bringing instability to their system and likely pressure of other types on their organization. Within six hours, WIkileaks re-emerged with a Swiss address. At the same time the French Foreign Minister announced no French providers should support Wikileaks, leading some to believe that a French outfit is really providing service. In any case, for now the website is reported to be live, active, continuing to leak with much more to come.
ReplyDeleteI haven't had any success trying to access the Wikileak site directly. The first day I tried I found a French Site with ties to WikiLeaks.. I played with it for a while but couldn't find what I was looking for.. Tried again, found a Twitter thread that's trying to keep up with him..
ReplyDeletehttp://search.twitter.com/search?had_popular=true&q=%23cablegate&result_type=recent
As of now the Guardian seems to have access to everything he's putting out...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/29/wikileaks-embassy-cables-key-points?CMP=twt_fd
As far as I understand, Wikileaks has already turned over their treasure trove to the Guardian. They worked together in some fashion on redacting before leaking. There's an "arrangement" of sorts there. The NY Times has a relationship with the Guardian with regard to this leaky business. I think that's the only US outlet. Other media outlets are commenting on the information revealed in the leaks. I'm just a voyeur, watching it all unfold with a variety of emotions.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a "he" that's leaking, but the Wikileaks organization, in which he has a leadership and Senior position, but their efforts carry on with or without him.
There isn't a country on the planet that is happy over all the leaking going on. Since it's still on the gossipy side, the hackers have shown us all how easy it is to leak secrets. Way too easy, so easy that we can say there are no secrets really, are there - just hidden from view for us ordinary folk. That's about all we've learned from this, so far. And it ain't no small potatoe either, but most folk love the juicy gossip and miss the bigger picture.
Where's 007?
The Intell people will be busy pasting bits of that gossip together with real life events until desceranble patterns develop, from there they'll be able to predict US actions and reactions.
ReplyDeleteFunny part is, while most of this will reflect on Obama, under existing law he might be stuck. The political left forced a series of court cases designed to "Get Nixon" 40 years ago.. Now they may Get Obama, because they hinder any overt action the government might want to take against WikiLeaks.
Guess that leaves James Bond or Jack Bauer to to the job.
Based on what I've read, there's nothing in these cables that was really new at all. Most stuff written was on a gossip level. I do not believe any useful pattern will emerge from this batch of material given the dynamic of the unpredictable nature of events. I find this an historic event nevertheless. I disagree. The political left did not "get" Nixon. He got himself. As for Obama, I don't think the political left will support Wikileaks, here or anywhere. Privacy is a huge concern on the left, as it is on the right, just with different "why" factors. From a legal point of view, Wikileaks received stolen property that was classified. The Espionage Act has been mentioned in a variety of news sources as potentially applicable in this case.
ReplyDeleteMr. Assange may have friends in the hacker community, but he has no friends in any government on the planet. The Russians use radioactive needles on journalists walking down the street outside of Russia or they just shoot or beat them to death inside Russia when they "cross" the line. That's just one example. Now, I wish the man no harm at all. Frankly, at times I am glad he exposed the weakness in the system. But if I were him, I'd be looking for a ticket on the next flight to the moon; otherwise, he'll always be looking over his shoulder for Bond or Bauer.