Posted by JM Ashby
I know this is a hot subject right now and there are lot of passionate opinions on both sides of the issue so I thought It would be best to give everyone a place to discuss it.
First things first. How exactly did Wikileaks come into possession of this latest information? It seems that coming across this information is not as difficult as it should be.
In the rush to merge the information held by the various intelligence agencies to form the Department of Homeland Security after 9/11, millions of diplomatic and military personnel were given access to the U.S. government intranet that houses all of this type of secret information.
An increasing number of US embassies were plugged into Siprnet in the last decade, so that military and diplomatic information can be shared. In 2002, 125 embassies were on Siprnet; by 2005, there were 180.
...a diplomatic dispatch marked Sipdis is automatically downloaded on to its embassy's classified website. From there it can be accessed not only by anyone in the state department, but also by anyone in the US military who has a computer connected to Siprnet. Millions of US soldiers and officials have "secret" security clearance.
There is going to be a swell of emotions that will lead many people to attack the messenger rather than the message, but some of the information emerging thus far is certainly things that the American people should be told about such as secret strikes in Yemen and purposely inflated claims about Iran's nuclear program coming out of Israel.