WikiLeaks, the stateless whistleblowing organization dedicated to disclosing secret government documents, is complaining of a leak of its own.
The organization on Thursday accused Britain’s Guardian newspaper of letting slip passwords that give Internet users access to thousands of unredacted cables from U.S. diplomats, a breach that exposes the diplomats’ sources and informants and potentially puts them in jeopardy.
The sequence of events at News Corp.
The Guardian denied the accusation, saying it “utterly rejects” statements by WikiLeaks’ director, Julian Assange, that it was responsible for providing access to the unedited cables or the passwords that unlock them.
The episode is another breach in a relationship between the Guardian and Assange that already was strained, despite their collaboration on the release of earlier caches of government documents.
The Guardian was one of several media organizations to which WikiLeaks chose to release classified U.S. government documents last year. Now, however, WikiLeaks says it has started “pre-litigation” action against the Guardian and an unidentified German national for allegedly breaking a non-disclosure agreement governing the secret documents WikiLeaks controlled.
WikiLeaks said in an editorial posted on its Web site that passwords to a computer containing the raw diplomatic documents are contained in a book, “WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy,” written by Guardian reporter David Leigh and published by the Guardian in February.
Ian Katz, the Guardian’s deputy editor, denied wrongdoing by the paper. He said it appeared that WikiLeaks had been “careless” with the documents. He said the Guardian first became concerned months ago as WikiLeaks cables began popping up in news outlets that appeared to be getting them from third parties.
Leigh said in an interview that Assange originally told him a password but added that the Web site connected to it was temporary and would disappear within hours. “There was no way that that password could have enabled anyone to access anything. . . . If I give you a password, it doesn’t mean anything unless you know where to go to look for the file where the password is supposedly attached,” Leigh said.
A person who used to work with WikiLeaks said he believes secret files might have been inadvertently released when a volunteer was trying to make backup copies as an “insurance file.”
The U.S. government remains concerned about WikiLeaks disclosures.
WikiLeaks said it told the State Department on Aug. 25 that it intends to release all the unredacted cables in its possession. The State Department confirmed that in a statement.
U.S. officials declined to say whether the new disclosures prompted personnel changes or new procedures to ensure the safety of people mentioned in the raw documents.
“We have made clear our views and concerns about illegally disclosed classified information and the continuing risk to individuals and national security that such releases cause,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. “WikiLeaks has, however, ignored our requests not to release or disseminate any U.S. documents it may possess and has continued its well-established pattern of irresponsible, reckless and frankly dangerous actions.”
Staff writers Anthony Faiola and Karla Adam in London and Joby Warrick in Washington contributed to this report.
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