DOD's Gates: Little Harm from WikiLeaks Release

The Defense Department says the July posting of tens of thousands of secret Afghan war logs by the WikiLeaks website compromised no sensitive intelligence sources or practices.

But the military says that the leak's disclosure of the names of Afghans who cooperated with the U.S. put them at risk, and would probably cause significant harm to U.S. national security interests.

That conclusion differs significantly from the initial hysteria in which Washington insiders and officials declared that the organization had blood on its hands for disclosing secrets that would put Americans in harm's way.

The conclusions came in a letter signed by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Aug. 16. It was obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

Gates also told Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, that an initial review of the leaked documents showed that they related mostly to day-to-day military operations rather than more sensitive matters.