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List of facilities 'vital to US security' leaked

donsutherland1

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From the BBC:

A long list of key facilities around the world that the US describes as vital to its national security has been released by Wikileaks...

If the US sees itself as waging a "global war on terror" then this represents a global directory of the key installations and facilities - many of them medical or industrial - that are seen as being of vital importance to Washington.

BBC News - List of facilities 'vital to US security' leaked

This latest leak makes abundantly clear that Mr. Assange is less interested in transparency than in publicizing U.S. vulnerabilities and practices. One is no longer dealing with embarrassing diplomatic cables. Instead, a strategic inventory of sites has been disclosed. This latest leak is of potentially significant value to U.S. enemies, as they have in their possession a list of critical facilities that they could target.

IMO, no nation can or should allow its critical or vital interests to be threatened with impunity. The U.S. should act either through appropriate legal channels to bring Mr. Assange to justice or, if such options are not available, through covert means so that he can be prosecuted. It should not allow its national security to be undermined without acting to bring an end to that situation.
 
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From the BBC:



BBC News - List of facilities 'vital to US security' leaked

This latest leak makes abundantly clear that Mr. Assange is less interested in transparency than in publicizing U.S. vulnerabilities and practices. One is no longer dealing with embarrassing diplomatic cables. Instead, a strategic inventory of sites has been disclosed. This latest leak is of potentially significant value to U.S. enemies, as they have in their possession a list of critical facilities that they could target.

IMO, no nation can or should allow its critical or vital interests to be threatened with impunity. The U.S. should act either through appropriate legal channels to bring Mr. Assange to justice or, if such options are not available, through covert means so that he can be prosecuted. It should not allow its national security to be undermined without acting to bring an end to that situation.

Even this is probably useless information. Ten snipers with high-powered rifles targeting ten major power stations in the U.S. all acting at the same approximate time on the same targets within those stations can put our country in the dark for months. Even MaggieD knows that.

Hmmm, are those black SUV's out front for me??
 
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We should demand that he be turned over to us, and any country offering safe harbor for him should be dealt with harshly.
 
Anyone want to guess what would happen if terrorists blew up any or all of the following?:

Cobalt mine in Congo
Anti-snake venom factory in Australia
Insulin plant in Denmark

Nothing. It would make the headlines in the countries in question for a couple of days and be largely ignored by the rest of the planet. I may be wrong, but I really don't think this is the type of target terrorists want to hit. They want big publicity when they strike and I doubt that any location on that leaked list would give them what they want. :shrug:
 
Anyone want to guess what would happen if terrorists blew up any or all of the following?:

Cobalt mine in Congo
Anti-snake venom factory in Australia
Insulin plant in Denmark

Nothing. It would make the headlines in the countries in question for a couple of days and be largely ignored by the rest of the planet. I may be wrong, but I really don't think this is the type of target terrorists want to hit. They want big publicity when they strike and I doubt that any location on that leaked list would give them what they want. :shrug:

Exactly, the list was of things the US does need, but they're not exactly vital to its continued survival.
 
From the BBC:



BBC News - List of facilities 'vital to US security' leaked

This latest leak makes abundantly clear that Mr. Assange is less interested in transparency than in publicizing U.S. vulnerabilities and practices. One is no longer dealing with embarrassing diplomatic cables. Instead, a strategic inventory of sites has been disclosed. This latest leak is of potentially significant value to U.S. enemies, as they have in their possession a list of critical facilities that they could target.

IMO, no nation can or should allow its critical or vital interests to be threatened with impunity. The U.S. should act either through appropriate legal channels to bring Mr. Assange to justice or, if such options are not available, through covert means so that he can be prosecuted. It should not allow its national security to be undermined without acting to bring an end to that situation.

Who cares about the leaks? Terrorism isn't a threat to America. Indigenous leftist extremism is the only threat facing the country.
 
Wow, all these leaks, and nothing on the Valerie Plame situation? Hmmm.
 
Either our security is flawed or there is people in the Obama administration leaking this info. Either way Obama needs to fix it
 
We should demand that he be turned over to us, and any country offering safe harbor for him should be dealt with harshly.

Nah...3 dollar solution...quicker...more efficient...permanent...
 
This evening, The New York Times reported:

Julian Assange, the beleaguered founder of the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, has threatened to release many more confidential diplomatic cables if legal action is taken against him or his organization. Mr. Assange’s threat poses a problem for the Obama administration as it explores ways to prosecute Mr. Assange or the group.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/world/europe/07assange.html

Such a threat amounts to nothing less than blackmail. As noted, given his compromising critical national interests, Mr. Assange should be brought to justice either via extradition or through covert action.
 
Either our security is flawed or there is people in the Obama administration leaking this info. Either way Obama needs to fix it

The documents that are being leaked are not top-secret. They are classified, which means that there are perhaps 1 million people in the U.S. (out of 300 million) that have access to them. That would include any and all federal analysts, investigators, and a hefty percentage of military personnel.

It's important to understand the difference between classified material and top secret material. There are a ton of documents that are listed as classified that probably shouldn't be. A comparable issue is "law enforcement sensitive" material.

Boyfriend was telling me that many military personnel have access to this stuff through the base computer systems.
 
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He hasn't broken any laws.

He's pretty clearly in violation of the Espionage Act, sections 793(b) and 793(c).
18 U.S.C. § 793 : US Code - Section 793: Gathering said:
(a) Whoever, for the purpose of obtaining information respecting
the national defense with intent or reason to believe that the
information is to be used to the injury of the United States, or to
the advantage of any foreign nation, goes upon, enters, flies over,
or otherwise obtains information concerning any vessel, aircraft,
work of defense, navy yard, naval station, submarine base, fueling
station, fort, battery, torpedo station, dockyard, canal, railroad,
arsenal, camp, factory, mine, telegraph, telephone, wireless, or
signal station, building, office, research laboratory or station or
other place connected with the national defense owned or
constructed, or in progress of construction by the United States or
under the control of the United States, or of any of its officers,
departments, or agencies, or within the exclusive jurisdiction of
the United States, or any place in which any vessel, aircraft,
arms, munitions, or other materials or instruments for use in time
of war are being made, prepared, repaired, stored, or are the
subject of research or development, under any contract or agreement
with the United States, or any department or agency thereof, or
with any person on behalf of the United States, or otherwise on
behalf of the United States, or any prohibited place so designated
by the President by proclamation in time of war or in case of
national emergency in which anything for the use of the Army, Navy,
or Air Force is being prepared or constructed or stored,
information as to which prohibited place the President has
determined would be prejudicial to the national defense; or
(b) Whoever, for the purpose aforesaid, and with like intent or
reason to believe, copies, takes, makes, or obtains, or attempts to
copy, take, make, or obtain, any sketch, photograph, photographic
negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance,
document, writing, or note of anything connected with the national
defense; or
(c) Whoever, for the purpose aforesaid, receives or obtains or
agrees or attempts to receive or obtain from any person, or from
any source whatever, any document, writing, code book, signal book,
sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map,
model, instrument, appliance, or note, of anything connected with
the national defense, knowing or having reason to believe, at the
time he receives or obtains, or agrees or attempts to receive or
obtain it, that it has been or will be obtained, taken, made, or
disposed of by any person contrary to the provisions of this
chapter;
or
 
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This evening, The New York Times reported:



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/world/europe/07assange.html

Such a threat amounts to nothing less than blackmail. As noted, given his compromising critical national interests, Mr. Assange should be brought to justice either via extradition or through covert action.


And calls for him to be treated as a terrorist, killed etc are not threats?

What he said is not a threat, but a warning if he is killed, thrown into gitmo etc, that truely US national security information will be released.
 
So it's a list of things that might be critical to the US...Something that any terrorist could look up without wikileaks "leak". Heck before this leak I could have thought up a few things that would be strategic and of vital importance to the US. Oil piplines would of course be an obvious one considering how much that has been in the news long before wikileaks became such a big deal. Wall Street would be another of course. Any centrally located power hub (or for even more massive damage all of them at once). Major dams could cause more damage in human life and money wise than 9/11 ever even thought of. Taking out a major airport. The White house. Pentagon. Though those last two would be harder to accomplish it is still possible with the right planning and patience. And many more.

Basically anyone with even a little bit of brain power could think of and locate suitable locations that could and would do more damage than just what is in that list. After 9/11 happened I would often think of ways that could seriously hurt the US. Not because I would do anything stupid like try to hurt my country but so that I could be prepared for most things that could affect me by a terrorist thinking along those lines.
 
I suppose someone has considered the possibility that Mr. Assange and Co. are being used by the US (and perhaps others?) to spread misinformation? Cause that's what I would do - have people "leak" him info to confuse my enemies...

Perhaps THAT's why we aren't trying to stop him any harder...
 
He's pretty clearly in violation of the Espionage Act, sections 793(b) and 793(c).

Does U.S. code apply to people who aren't living in the U.S. or are citizens of the U.S?
 
Does U.S. code apply to people who aren't living in the U.S. or are citizens of the U.S?

Personally I don't see how our laws could apply to someone that doesn't live in the US and has never been a US citizen. Now if they had committed a crime while they were inside the US then yeah our laws should apply. But the guy has never been to the US AFAIK and even if he has been he certainly is not in the US now or at the time of the leaks.

Forcing our laws onto non-citizens not in our country is wrong.
 
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