While many have been fascinated by tales of Russian spies spending years in deep cover while living fairly ordinary lives and pretty much accomplishing nothing of known or revealed importance, another tale of espionage is unfolding, one that might well be considerably more serious and damaging. It is now being alleged that something like 260,000 documents have been pilfered from the State Department.
I want to stress, not a mere 260,000 PAGES of documents, but 260,000 SEPARATE DOCUMENTS!
So what do these documents contain? It is said that they include blistering assessments of foreign leaders, operational details involving covert activities, information regarding foreign policy decisions, and even classified files of meetings with Israeli officials, among many other embarrassing and damaging files of information.
The culprit, supposedly, is U.S. Army Intelligence Analyst Bradley Manning, who was arrested sometime in June of this year in connection with the leaking of an explosive video of attack-helicopter gun camera footage from Iraq. Whether that arrest is what led to the discovery of the leak of these documents is not exactly clear.
The alleged recipient of the documents are, like in the Iraq video case, Wikileaks, a website that specializes in serving as a repository for whistle blowers to leak documents that prove unscrupulous and criminal actions by government agencies and officials.
Manning is currently in jail, and Wikileaks has issued a denial as to its own involvement in the case of the disappearing documents.
Julian Assange, the Australian born founder of Wikileaks, has curiously seemed to disappear over the last few days. No one seems to know where he is.
What I wouldn't give to get to read these documents, if that is they really exist. I guess that's the point. No one knows for sure where they went, or who has them, or how and when they might turn up, or where. But if and when they do, I can almost promise you they would be worth their weight in gold to certain relevant parties.
Hat Tip-Defense Tech
UPDATE-Although it is not really surprising, Bradley Manning has his supporters, and one of them, Mike Gogulski, has started a web-site called Help Bradley Manning, with the tag-line "Because True Heroism Merits No Punishment".
The site seems clearly based only on his status as a whistle-blower related to the release of the aforementioned video. There is no mention on the site, that I have seen, related to the release of the 260,000 documents. I want to be clear, however, that there is no proof Manning himself was involved in this. But if he was, he is obviously going away for a very long time, more than likely for the rest of his life. He might even conceivably face the prospect of execution.
I should also mention that Julian Assange, the co-founder of Wikileaks, is being sought in connection with the leaking of the helicopter-attack video leaked by Manning.
CORRECTION-I stated in the post that Manning was arrested earlier this month, which was incorrect. I have corrected it. He was evidently arrested sometime last month, as the first post in the aforementioned blog Help Bradley Manning is dated June 17th of 2010.
