Mullen: Afghans Outed by WikiLeaks Are Unsafe

Calling this week's release of classified Afghan war documents by the organization WikiLeaks "appalling," Admiral Mike Mullen said that he was concerned about the potential harm to Afghans whose identities might be surmised from the U.S. military's reports.

Earlier this week Adm. Mullen said that WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, might have "blood on the hands," from a soldier or Afghan whose identity might be compromised by the leak.

On CBS' "Face the Nation" today, Mullen said he was concerned about the potential for damage.

"I very much meant what I said," he told host Harry Smith, and said his fears were "specifically endorsed by the Taliban leadership which has come out in the last day or so and said that they in fact are looking at the names that are leaked. I certainly think that's an indicator of what's possible."

Mullen said people outside the military may not understand the danger of such leaks. "The ability to knit together what is seemingly information that may not be related and then to take advantage of it, I think it's, you know, it's irresponsible and could very well potentially end up in the loss of lives," he said.

Mullen did not say whether there was evidence that the release of the information has lead to harm against U.S. forces or collaborators, but said that the U.S. is seeking to protect informants named in the leaks.

"There are certainly efforts going on to do that. But I couldn't speak to specifics right now," he said. "I think Secretary Gates said it earlier in the week, we do have a moral obligation given their exposure and given what they've done, to do all we can to ensure their safety."

When asked if he thought there was anything the government could do to prevent the release of additional documents, Mullen replied, "Well, there's obviously an investigation which is open and expanding as necessary.

"I actually feel very strongly that the release of additional information could continue to jeopardize [people], as I've indicated. I'm not specifically aware of any action that's been taken in the government to bar anybody from leaking more information."

[thadius5]

WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange has committed treason against the United States. It's that simple. And he plans to do it again soon. He should be prosecuted. And anyone who doesn't care about the potential loss of life in Afghanistan this leak could cause is not a true American or a descent human being!

[newsterI]

Calling this week's release of classified Afghan war documents by the organization WikiLeaks "appalling," Admiral Mike Mullen said that he was concerned about the potential harm to Afghans whose identities might be surmised from the U.S. military's reports."

GOOD! lesson to be learned here by those people- DO NOT HELP the crooked out-of-control US WAR MACHINE EVER AGAIN or you will be exposed!
I hope every one of those war enablers gets identified and FOUND so as to set an example to other would-be US war/invasion enablers, you get involved with the US, and you get OUTTED and IDENTIFIED!

[national1942]

This is disgusting and Wikileaks should be prosecuted to the FULLEST extent of the law and put off the Internet. I have 0 tolerance for this kind of treason.

[OIF_to_USC]

It looks like Julian Assange and [soon to be former PFC] Manning could be serving time in federal prison for espionage and treason. I wonder how many NATO and Afghan troops and Afghan intelligence operatives will die because of the ill-timed actions of these two nitwits. When I was in Iraq, it was assumed that every email, official and personal, was read by al-Qaeda. Aside from some steamy emails to my wife, the enemy never read anything damaging from me.

[tmittelstaed]

The only thing that Mike Mullen is appalled at is that he is getting some congressional scrutiny, and that the document release might affect his next defense appropriation. He is completely uninterested in exiting Afghanistan and just wants to continue to use the country as a testing grounds for new weapons.

Wikileaks have said that this data has mostly been released before - just in bits and pieces here and there by different groups. If the Taliban has been studying such documents to find informants out, then they have already been studying these bits and pieces. All the wikileaks release has done is allowed the -informants- themselves to be aware that their identity has been compromised.

We need to exit Afghanistan and quit paying the bill on it. We have much bigger fish to fry - such as Iran's nuclear ambitions. The Afghan was has been a dangerous distraction.

[010sonny]

Damage done. Now how about taking advantage of this scenario. There are those who will use this info for negative purposes. That in mind flood the info with reverse knowledge as to who is who or what is what. Example the guilty party ,that we pursue, is made the person desirable for our opponet. Places to be of our choice. Hollywood could have fun with this...TO OUR OPPONETS DEMISE>>>

[imnho]

I am all for a free press but his was a bad idea. People who are in harms way should not have there namea disclosed if they are a source on intellgence information. Disclousure of there names will cause the Taliban to target them for death. This will also deter others from becoming sources in the future.

This is also not a conservative or liberal issuse. Its about National Security and getting rid of the Taliban as quick as possible. It will be a long war and this will only prolong it.

[ludvig1-2009]

We are at war. People who outed our allies identities should be treated as traitors and at a minimum jailed until the war ends and it looks like it will be a very long war, maybe 30, 40 more years the longer because of outing our allies.

[DocD--2008]

The crime of tratior during wartime includes the death penalty. If one person dies because of the info leaked, so should the leakers receive.

[book_of_wally]

by DocD--2008 August 1, 2010 5:49 PM EDT
The crime of tratior during wartime includes the death penalty. If one person dies because of the info leaked, so should the leakers receive.
==================================
Except if their names are Karl Rove or Dick Cheney. They are above the law.

[sjc_1]

Anyone putting others in danger by disclosing information should be prosecuted.

[credibility_problem]

People in Pakistan believe that the Wikileaks outfit is a CIA or MI6 front operation, and that this document dump was done for some specific purpose - undermining Pakistani relations with the US, distracting attention away from the growing scandal of overpaid and ineffective private intelligence contractors (let alone nuclear and biodefense and other military contractors), or something similar.

That's why legitimate and respected whistleblower sites, like cryptome.org, or nuclear watchdog groups like the Federation of American Scientists, refuse to work with Wikileaks (Cryptome thinks they're a spy or public relations outfit, FAS thinks they're stupid, clownish and have no respect for individual privacy).

This is all likely a big con game - the private intelligence contractor story is far more important, at projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/