(Host) Senator Patrick Leahy says he’s concerned that the release of hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks could jeopardize the lives of people in Iraq and Afghanistan who’ve helped the U.S.
Leahy says the incident also shows that security systems designed to protect the cables have failed and he wants to know why.
VPR’s Bob Kinzel reports.
(Kinzel) Leahy says there are several disturbing elements to this story. First, he says Congress needs to investigate how the person who allegedly obtained hundreds of thousands of cables, was able to gain access to what Leahy says should have been a secure system.
This oversight will be done by the House and Senate Intelligence committees and there could be a role for the Senate Judiciary Committee – a panel that Leahy chairs:
(Leahy) "I get briefings all the time on these issues and it’s done in such a secure way. I have only certain people in my office who are allowed to see this and even that’s on a compartmented thing. I still cannot understand how a Private First Class could go in, pretend he’s listening to Lady Gaga and download hundreds of thousands of pages – that boggles the mind."
(Kinzel) Some commentators have compared the release of these diplomatic cables to the release of the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Those papers detailed the United States’ secret involvement in Vietnam beginning in the late 1940s.
Leahy says the two situations are completely different because the Pentagon papers looked at the past and these cables could have a direct impact on the future.
(Leahy) "This is talking about things that are ongoing and we have a war in Iraq and a war in Afghanistan and it’s putting a lot of people at risk. Their lives are at risk because of it – people who have helped us in those two countries. And whether you’re for or against the war, people who helped to protect our troops are now at risk and could face assassination, murder, because of it. So no, I see them entirely different."
(Kinzel) Leahy says the Department of Justice is investigating the leaks and he says that any decision to prosecute individuals involved in the case will depend on the evidence that’s uncovered.
(Leahy) "It depends on who you mean. Certainly, assuming the articles are correct that this private did it, he will be punished there’s no question about that. What steps can be taken and under the law against the people who are outside the country doing this I’m not sure. Right now the Department of Justice is going through probably every kind of law they can find to see what they can do to bring charges. If they can find ways they will."
(Kinzel) Leahy says he doesn’t think the release of these cables will hurt the foreign policy of the United States in the long term but he says the incident might encourage some diplomatic officials to express their opinions in person instead of putting these thoughts on paper.
For VPR News, I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.