World Naval Developments

Too Much Access ?

A leaking (or spy) scandal that erupted in mid-June may illuminate the issue of cyber security. While in Iraq, U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning offered an organization called Wikileaks extensive classified information on what he considered recent U.S. misdeeds. His offer included a database of 260,000 classified State Department cables, which he claimed demonstrated the numerous evils of current operations in the ongoing war against terrorism. The leaker was turned in by an earlier leaker to whom he had gone for advice; the other man was horrified by the possibility that masses of information, which he thought could cost American lives, would fall into enemy hands. Wikileaks itself has not published the supposed State Department database, and claims it was never received.