Monday, July 26, 2010

Wikileaks and National Security

Dubbed the current generation's Pentagon Papers, Wikileaks' Afghan War Diaries - now serialized in three major news sites (the New York Times' War Logs is here) we are again faced with the ever-familiar conundrum between free speech (in the service of transparency and accountability) and national security.

One of the most explosive news to date is the feature of a double-crossing Pakistan which has been in fact helping the Taliban insurgents all along. The US government has remarked that this puts national security at risk. Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, the disseminating organization of these secret military records pertaining to the US war in Afghanistan, commented that he was doing so for reasons of transparency and for "comprehensive understanding of the war in Afghanistan and provide the raw ingredients necessary to change its course."

So what do you think? I'm not sure what kind of legal action can come out of this - Wikileaks is based in Europe - and given the precedent of the Pentagon papers case, the NY Times is safe for now at least, but this will be an interesting thing to watch out for.

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