A small, cash-strapped website that publishes documents governments want kept secret has caught the attention of the Pentagon, which says the site poses a possible threat to US troops. A report by the US Army Counterintelligence Center says the whistleblower website WikiLeaks poses a potential danger to safeguarding troops, protecting sensitive information, and "operational security."
The 2008 military analysis appeared this week on the WikiLeaks website, the latest document posted on the site that seeks to uncover information governments and companies try to keep from public view. US Army spokesman Gary Tallman confirmed the report on the website was "genuine."
The report expresses concern that the website posted 2,000 pages of documents with precise details of military equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan from April 2007, describing them as "nearly the entire order of battle." Tallman said that information has a "shelf life" and has become outdated. "The information in the review is now dated to the point where it no longer presents the same national security concerns as it did when the report was generated," he told AFP.
The 2008 army report suggests trying to expose those who leak documents WikiLeaks as a way of undermining the website. Sites such as WikiLeaks "use trust as a center of gravity by protecting the anonymity and identity of the insiders, leakers, or whistleblowers," it said.
"The identification, exposure, termination of employment, criminal prosecution, legal action against current or former insiders, leakers, or whistleblowers could potentially damage or destroy this center of gravity and deter others considering similar actions from using the Wikileaks.org Web site."
Tallman said the military seeks to safeguard sensitive information and is focused on preventing leaks that could endanger US forces or national security. WikiLeaks, run by Sunshine Press, describes itself as a "non-profit organisation funded by human rights campaigners, investigative journalists, technologists and the general public."