The U.S. Recognizes that WikiLeaks Have Damaged Its Foreign Relations

Published in La Nacion
(Argentina) on 7 December 2010
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Robin Salomon . Edited by Gillian Palmer.
“Diplomatic relations will be more complicated,” indicated the spokesperson from the State Department; even the Pentagon has affirmed that the cooperation of various governments has changed ever since the appearance of the cables.

WASHINGTON (EFE) — The Pentagon and the State Department recognized today that the filtration of the diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks has done damage to U.S. foreign relations, upon changing the way individuals and governments act, and by feeding information to its enemies.

“For some time, diplomatic relations will be more complicated,” explained P.J. Crowley, the spokesperson for the State Department, in a meeting with foreign press. “We understand that these revelations have opened up a gap of trust in our country’s ability to maintain privacy, which we lament,” added Crowley.

Pentagon spokesperson Colonel Dave Lapan affirmed, “There are indications that foreign powers will be pulling back from their dealings with the U.S.,” in an informational meeting with some media.

The Pentagon has received “indications” that there exists “at least some change in the way in which individuals and governments cooperate and share information with each other,” Lapan specified.

That change is evident, for example, in the presence of “meetings that used to involve several diplomats and ones that now involve fewer diplomats,” according to the State Department spokesperson's explanation in his daily press conference. “We're conscious of at least one meeting where it was requested that notebooks be left outside the room,” Crowley said.

Lapan considered the more than 250,000 diplomatic cables that Wikileaks began to publish on Nov. 28 would supposedly create a mine for those who seek to hurt the United States.

“We know, through various sources, that our opponents are rummaging in this (the filtrations) to get information,” assured Lapan; however, it is “difficult to assess the exact way” in which those enemies “are changing their tactics.”

That difficulty of assessing the damages that the filtrations will have in the mechanisms of the United States foreign relations involves, for Lapan, a significantly higher risk than the “modest” danger that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates forecasted last week.

“How can we assess the information that our enemies have obtained, which has showed them things about how we function, which has allowed them to alter their behavior as a result of what they have found out?” the colonel asks. “All of that is real danger that we believe to have occurred,” he added.

Lapan, as much as Crowley, avoided making comments about the arrest in London of Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, and about the possibility of exiling him to Sweden, or, if he is charged, being tried in the United States.

“The United States isn’t involved in this matter,” assured Crowley, who added that the only countries involved are “England and Sweden,” whose public prosecutor’s office released an order to capture Assange with relation to his supposed sexual assault crimes.

*Editor’s note: The quotations in this article, accurately translated, could not be verified.


EE.UU. reconoce que WikiLeaks ha dañado sus relaciones exteriores
Martes 7 de diciembre de 2010 | 20:35 (actualizado a las 21:57)

"Las relaciones diplomáticas serán más complicadas", indicó el portavoz del Departamento de Estado; desde el Pentágono afirmaron que cambió la cooperación de varios gobiernos desde la aparición de los cables.

WASHINGTON (EFE).- La filtración de cables diplomáticos obtenidos por WikiLeaks ha dañado las relaciones exteriores de EE.UU., al cambiar la forma de actuar de individuos y Gobiernos y aportar información a sus enemigos, reconocieron hoy el Pentágono y el Departamento de Estado.

"Por algún tiempo, las relaciones diplomáticas serán más complicadas", explicó el portavoz del Departamento de Estado, P.J. Crowley, en un encuentro con prensa extranjera. "Hemos comprendido que estas revelaciones han abierto una brecha en la confianza, lo que lamentamos", agregó Crowley.

Por su parte, el portavoz del Pentágono, el coronel Dave Lapan, afirmó: "Tenemos la sensación de que hay cosas que han dado marcha atrás debido a esta información", en una sesión de preguntas con algunos medios.

El Pentágono ha recibido "indicaciones" de que existe "al menos algún cambio en la forma en la que los individuos y los Gobiernos cooperan y comparten información con ella", precisó Lapan.

Ese cambio se ha concretado, por ejemplo, en la presencia de "menos diplomáticos en reuniones que solían convocar a muchos más", según explicó en su conferencia de prensa diaria el portavoz del Departamento de Estado. "Somos conscientes de al menos una reunión en la que se exigió que todos los cuadernos de notas quedaran fuera de la sala", dijo Crowley.

Por su parte, Lapan consideró que los más de 250.000 cables diplomáticos que WikiLeaks comenzó a publicar el pasado 28 de noviembre suponen además una mina para quienes buscan dañar a Estados Unidos.

"Sabemos, a través de varias fuentes, que nuestros adversarios están hurgando en esto (las filtraciones) para conseguir información", aseguró Lapan, para quien sin embargo es "difícil cuantificar la forma exacta" en la que esos enemigos "están cambiando sus tácticas".

Esa dificultad de cuantificar los daños que las filtraciones tendrán en los mecanismos de las relaciones exteriores de Estados Unidos entraña, para Lapan, un riesgo bastante superior al "modesto" peligro que pronosticó la semana pasada el secretario de Defensa, Robert Gates.

"¿Cómo podemos cuantificar la información que han obtenido nuestros enemigos y que les ha enseñado cosas sobre cómo funcionamos, que les ha hecho alterar su comportamiento a raíz de lo que se han enterado?", se preguntó el coronel. "Todos esos son peligros reales que creemos que han ocurrido", añadió.

Tanto Lapan como Crowley evitaron hacer comentarios sobre el arresto en Londres del fundador de WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, y sobre la posibilidad de que sea extraditado a Suecia o, en el caso en que se presenten cargos, juzgado en Estados Unidos.

"Estados Unidos no está involucrado en este asunto", aseguró Crowley, quien añadió que los únicos implicados son "el Reino Unido y Suecia", país cuya fiscalía emitió la orden de captura a Assange en relación con sus supuestos delitos de agresión sexual.
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

Hot this week

Indonesia: US-China: Tariff, Tension, and Truce

Spain: A NATO Tailor-Made for Trump

OPD 26th June 2025, edited by Michelle Bisson Proofer: See...

Taiwan: Taiwan’s Leverage in US Trade Talks

Ethiopia: “Trump Guitars” Made in China: Strumming a Tariff Tune

Germany: Trump’s Disappointment Will Have No Adverse Consequences for Putin*

             

Topics

Singapore: The US May Win Some Trade Battles in Southeast Asia but Lose the War

Ethiopia: “Trump Guitars” Made in China: Strumming a Tariff Tune

Egypt: The B-2 Gamble: How Israel Is Rewriting Middle East Power Politics

China: 3 Insights from ‘Trade War Truce’ between US and China

United Kingdom: We’re Becoming Inured to Trump’s Outbursts – But When He Goes Quiet, We Need To Be Worried

Poland: Jędrzej Bielecki: Trump’s Pyrrhic Victory*

Austria: Trump Is Only Part of the Problem

Canada: Canada Must Match the Tax Incentives in Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’

Related Articles

Argentina: Trump Is Laying His Cards Down

Argentina: The US-China Microprocessor War

Argentina: Help for Trump in 2024

Argentina: Understanding a 2nd Cold War