MAJOR VULGARITY ALERT – AT 10:39 A.M. ET:  Brace yourself.  According to reliable sources, WikiLeaks, that "service" that acquires classified U.S. documents, is about to release thousands of highly sensitive diplomatic messages sent between American embassies and the State Department.

State is already cautioning foreign nations, especially Britain and Israel, that the documents will prove highly embarrassing and can damage relations.  Translated:  These cables contain frank assessments by American diplomats of foreign leaders and their policies.

This is a potential disaster.  If diplomats cannot be assured of privacy in official communications, the assessments and advice that Washington needs cannot be delivered.  In addition, if candid comments are made public, the embarrassment can cause serious breaches in relationships.

How the hell did this happen?  How did so many documents get loose?  Clearly, we have a security problem, but the American media seems indifferent.  Indeed, it's now been reported that The New York Times has been given advance access to the highly sensitive material by WikiLeaks.  This is disgraceful, but typical of the "new" Times. 

Classified information is the property of the American people, and handled by our elected officials in Washington, and their appointees.  If legally classified, it is an outrage that any newspaper would print it.  The U.S. Government is already warning that people can be killed as a result of this anticipated document dump. 

We await the release.  It is imperative that we plug these leaks and take whatever action we can take internationally to make sure this doesn't happen again.

November 28, 2010