The latest attack on Wikileaks comes courtesy of quickly fading standard bearer CNN,
who claim that Wikileaks released a document detailing the locations of security risk targets in America and abroadWikiLeaks has published a secret U.S. diplomatic cable listing places the United States considers vital to its national security, prompting criticism that the website is inviting terrorist attacks on American interests.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the disclosure "gives a group like al Qaeda a targeting list." The sites are included in a lengthy cable the State Department sent in February 2009 to its posts around the world, asking American diplomats to identify installations overseas "whose loss could critically impact the public health, economic security, and/or national and homeland security of the United States."
The diplomats identified dozens of places on every continent, including mines, manufacturing complexes, ports and research establishments. CNN is not publishing specific details from the list, which refers to pipelines and undersea telecommunications cables as well as the location of minerals or chemicals critical to U.S. industry.
Titillating! I am literally agape with fear, ready to vote for whatever politician projects the most manly demeanor and promises to use the highest level of lethal force to alleviate my fears. But being the curious citizen that I am, I decided to
look up the cable in question.State Department sent in February 2009
...
The cable is classified secret and not for review by non-U.S. personnel.
Here we are:
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION:CRITICAL FOREIGN DEPENDENCIES (CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND KEY RESOURCES LOCATED ABROAD) created 2009-2-18Unless I'm mistaken, that's under the classification of SECRET//NOFORN, which I assume means Secret and not for Non-US. Either way, it seems to describe the cable mentioned in the CNN story.
It does indeed list potential targets. At least, that they exist. And are located somewhere. Assuming you can make out what the massive wall of text at the bottom is actually saying.
CNN is not publishing specific details from the list, which refers to pipelines and undersea telecommunications cables as well as the location of minerals or chemicals critical to U.S. industry.
Emphasis mine
I, unfortunately, lack the scruples of CNN and will gleefully publish this data (again) and not just how to find this data.
Straits of Malacca Japan: C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Chikura, Japan C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Shima, Japan China-US undersea cable, Okinawa, Japan EAC undersea cable landing Ajigaura, Japan EAC undersea cable landing
Yeah, that certainly does tell me that undersea telecommunications cables existed. I guess if not for this document I would have assumed the islands around Japan and the mainland got their internet by unicorn magic.
In short, this story is a bunch of crap, and CNN is trying to get some shots at Assange in.
Also:
Diplomats also identified sites of strategic importance for supplying U.S. forces and interests abroad, such as in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Panama Canal
I didn't need a Wikileaks document to tell me that shit.