Plan B Forum

Andrew D wrote:The "Defense" Department -- whose name is a right-wing lie -- could have stopped Wikileaks from disclosing classified information.

The DOD chose to let that information become public.

The DOD let classified information become public, because the DOD knew that the "classified" information was not kept secret for any reason other than political butt-licking.

Gob wrote:

Andrew D wrote:The "Defense" Department -- whose name is a right-wing lie -- could have stopped Wikileaks from disclosing classified information.

Evidence for this?

DoD Slaps Down WikiLeaks' Offer to Review War Docs

When WikiLeaks published tens of thousands of classified documents relating to the war in Afghanistan, it kept an additional 15,000 documents off the Web, pending further review. The site's organizers apparently invited the Pentagon to collaborate on examining these additional files prior to publication, but a letter from a DoD lawyer makes it clear the department isn't interested.

An overture by WikiLeaks to the U.S. Defense Department to collaborate on sanitizing classified documents on the Afghan war before the whistleblowing website makes the material public has been spurned by the federal agency.

"[T]he Department of Defense will not negotiate some 'minimized' or 'sanitized' version of a release by WikiLeaks of additional U.S. government classified documents," Defense Department General Counsel Jeh Charles Johnson wrote in a letter dated Aug. 16 to an attorney, Timothy J. Matusheski, claiming to represent WikiLeaks, a copy of which was obtained by TechNewsWorld.

"The Department demands that nothing further be released by WikiLeaks, that all of the U.S. government classified documents that WikiLeaks has obtained be returned immediately, and that WikiLeaks remove and destroy all of these records from its databases," the DOD counsel added.

DOD: Our Bad, We DID Talk to WikiLeaks
The Pentagon is walking back initial denials that it tried to contact WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, in recent days to discuss still-unreleased secret files from the Afghanistan war. And new details divulged by defense officials suggest their middleman for contacting the website was an obscure lawyer based in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Earlier today, Assange told reporters that he'd "received contact" from the military and he'd "welcome their engagement," adding: "It is always positive for parties to talk to each other." But according to Newsweek:

...spokesmen for both the US Army and the Office of the Secretary of Defense denied that any such contacts had occurred. The office of the Army's general counsel, the military service's chief lawyer, has had "no contact with Julian Assange or any representative of WikiLeaks," said Col. Thomas Collins, an Army spokeman.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman went on to say that there was no "direct contact with WikiLeaks," and the DOD's only avenue of communicating with the site was "via the media."

That now appears to be untrue. In discussions with reporters later Wednesday at the Pentagon, Whitman clarified the military's position. According to Stars & Stripes DC bureau reporter Kevin Baron: "DOD just released a letter sent on Monday to an indivudual they 'came across' who was 'purporting' to be an atty for WikiLeaks." Whitman told the assembled reporters that the DOD had scheduled a phone conversation at 10 a.m. on Sunday, "but the atty did not show."

which makes clear that WikiLeaks did exactly that which DoD officials denied they did: namely, they asked DoD for help redacting these remaining documents. That letter, written by DoD Legal Counsel Jeh Charles Johnson to WikiLeak’s counsel, Timothy Matusheski, explicitly recounts — contrary to the emphatic denials in Newsweek — that WikiLeaks’ lawyer had contacted the Pentagon and requested help in the “harm minimization” process. The DoD, however, is explicitly refusing to offer any help whatsoever:

Thus, the Department of Defense will not negotiate some "minimized" or "sanitized" version of a release by WikiLeaks of additional U.S. Government classified documents. The Department demands that nothing further be released by WikiLeaks, that all of the U.S. Government classified documents that WikiLeaks has obtained be returned immediately, and that WikiLeaks remove and destroy all of these records from its databases.

Pentagon Tells WikiLeaks Lawyer It Won't Help 'Sanitize' Documents

The Pentagon has told a lawyer who said he represents the founder of the website WikiLeaks it will not negotiate to arrange the release of secret documents with key information removed. Officials of the group told reporters Wednesday the Pentagon had agreed to open a dialogue on the issue.

A letter from Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson says the defense department will not discuss what he calls "some 'minimized' or 'sanitized' version of a release by WikiLeaks of additional U.S. Government classified documents." The letter also repeat's the department's demand that all the documents be returned, and that those which already have been published be removed from Wikileaks' databases and destroyed.

dgs49 wrote:Incredible.

rubato wrote:I was referring to Manning.

keld feldspar wrote:... the messages are all classified even if they suggest that someone make sure the XO has his morning coffee.