Diplomacy Isn’t Our Job

They’re talking about dams bursting, about irresponsibility of historical proportions and about a watershed moment in diplomatic history. What’s true is that the U.S. State Department documents leak may lead to diplomatic turmoil. But, at the moment, these are no more than mere apprehensions.

It’s wrong to fight a rear guard action against those responsible and to demonize WikiLeaks as the source of the problem. What are Julian Assange’s people doing, anyway? They’re adhering to the rules of journalistic craftsmanship. WikiLeaks is making leaked information available to the public without first getting the permission of those who may or may not be affected by it. That’s normal procedure, really. Journalists are not diplomats for whom possible diplomatic ramifications might be more important than freedom of the press.

Nonetheless, there are a few challenges in this case. The quantity of data alone that can be made public with a little push from the Pentagon is enormous. Despite that, the United States needs to ask itself whether perhaps its greatest current security problem isn’t due to its own bloated intelligence apparatus. If there are thousands of employees in the loop, it can only be a matter of time before one frustrated or disappointed or angry employee spills the beans.

On the other hand, very few media outlets really have the competence to evaluate such information. That leads to another feature of a real scoop: The original documents were previously available to a total of five chosen media outlets. The rest of the world had to be satisfied with their interpretations for the foreseeable future. But what does “aggressive” mean if we’re unable to see the context in which the attribute was applied to Guido Westerwelle?

The WikiLeaks data dump was the right thing to do in any case. It forces journalists to more accurately understand their own role. Rehearsed scenarios between opinion makers and policy decisions are problematic. That’s the real turning point now underway.

The days are long gone when just a few select, elite insiders were able to decide what information would be made public and when it should be released. In that spirit I say: Keep up the good work, WikiLeaks!