Acting as if we live in some sort of fantasy world, the Obama administration and the Pentagon have both forbid their hundreds of thousands of federal workers to view the WikiLeaks secret cables—unless those employees have the requisite security clearance.
The move, experts believe, is futile as the dispersion of the information, as well as the incapacity of the government to monitor private Internet usage, make the decision by the Obama White House seem a bit out of touch. —JCL
The New York Times:
In a classic case of shutting the barn door after the horse has left, the Obama administration and the Department of Defense have ordered the hundreds of thousands of federal employees and contractors not to view the secret cables and other classified documents published by Wikileaks and news organizations around the world unless the workers have the required security clearance or authorization.
“Classified information, whether or not already posted on public websites or disclosed to the media, remains classified, and must be treated as such by federal employees and contractors, until it is declassified by an appropriate U.S. Government authority,” said the notice sent on Friday afternoon by the Office of Management and Budget, which is part of the White House, to agency and department heads, urging them to distribute it to their staff.
The directive applies to both government computers and private devices that employees or contractors might have, as long as they are accessing the documents on nonclassified government networks. It does not advise agencies to block WikiLeaks or other websites on government computer systems, a White House official said Saturday. And it does not prohibit federal employees from reading news stories about the topic. But if they have “accidentially” already downloaded any of these documents, they are being told to notify their “information security offices.”
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Most of the information released, should not even be secret. But that’s not the real reason for all of this.
It’s because the truth makes it so much harder to tell believable lies. That’s what are government is based on now, telling believable lies.
If you had any doubts before that our government sees freedom, all freedom, as an enemy of it’s existence, then this should put that to rest.
So, now they will arrange, our daily 10 of hate around Mr. Assange. They will stop just short of having him paraded through times square in a cage, so people can throw rotten eggs at him.
They also want us to hate, hate ourselves, hate everyone and each other. Hate makes people easier to manipulate, because it creates social isolation.
These are proably the same folks that murdered JFK, RFK, Paul Wellstone, etc.. Their capable of anything.
So, we’re all potential terrorists to them, so they’ll be watching each and every one of us.
By Jaime Cadle, December 6, 2010 at 11:48 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
This is obviously meant to contain any subversive thought internally, as State Department employees may now be subject to disciplinary action in the case that any may become a smarty pants with regard to this new take on their role in the world that they were ordered not to read about. Clinton just threatened personal hardship to government employees for consuming information that is freely available to every other person on the planet (those with access, anyway). Those of us who can differentiate ourselves from the red white and blue should see, by now, that one has a future and the other is finished. Red white and blue no longer belongs to us, and we should let it go, like we should have let our too-big-to-fail banks go. Identity is a choice of free human beings, not a birthright. Only captains are obliged to ride a sinking ship to the deapths. Let’s stop bailing and swim for it!
Although it seems very few people are speaking up for Assange and the real significance of the WkiLeaks, the London Guardian, as usual, is open to analysis and support:
John Naughten, in the London Guardian, 12/6:
Head—“LIVE WITH THE WIKILEAKABLE WORLD OR SHUT DOWN THE NET. iT’S YOUR CHOICE.”
Subhead—“Western political elites obfuscate, lie and bluster—and when the veil of secrecy is lifted, they try to kill the essenger.”
From the body of the article: “Consider, for instance, how the views of the US administration have changed in just a year. On 21 January, secretary of state Hillary Clinton made a landmark speech about internet freedom, in Washington DC, which many people welcomed and most interpreted as a rebuke to China for its alleged cyberattack on Google. ‘Information has never been so free,’ declared Clinton. ‘Even in authoritarian countries, information networks are helping people discover new facts and making governments more accountable.’”
“She went on to relate how, during his visit to China in November 2009, Barack Obama had “defended the right of people to freely access information, and said that the more freely information flows the stronger societies become. He spoke about how access to information helps citizens to hold their governments accountable, generates new ideas, and encourages creativity.” Given what we now know, that Clinton speech reads like a satirical masterpiece.”
from Heather Broooke, London Guardian, today:
“WikiLeaks: The revolution has begun and it will be digitalized.”
“We are at a pivotal moment where the visionaries at the vanguard of a global digital age are clashing with those who are desperate to control what we know. WikiLeaks is the guerrilla front in a global movement for greater transparency and participation. There are projects like Ushahidi that use social networking to create maps where locals can report incidents of violence that challenge the official version of events. There are activists seeking to free official data so that citizens can see, for example, government spending in detail.
Ironically, the US state department has been one of the biggest cheerleaders for technical innovation as a means of bringing democracy to places like Iran and China. President Obama has urged repressive regimes to stop censoring the internet, yet a bill before Congress would allow the attorney general to create a blacklist of websites. Is robust democracy only good when it’s not at home?
It used to be that a leader controlled citizens by controlling information. Now it’s harder than ever for the powerful to control what people read, see and hear. Technology gives people the ability to band together and challenge authority. The powerful have long spied on citizens (surveillance) as a means of control, now citizens are turning their collected eyes back upon the powerful (sousveillance).
This is a revolution, and all revolutions create fear and uncertainty. Will we move to a New Information Enlightenment or will the backlash from those who seek to maintain control no matter the cost lead us to a new totalitarianism? What happens in the next five years will define the future of democracy for the next century, so it would be well if our leaders responded to the current challenge with an eye on the future.”
Postscript: Never thought I’d live long enough to see the day when my government forbid its citizens to read information spread throughout the world. Am wondering now if it’s okay to read it in French? Or German? Or Swahili? What a mockery our government has made of “the four freedoms”—and within the short span of a relatively few years. All because it is afraid of criticism. How sad!
The irony being, that if our government had not shut out effective communication with its citizens and tried to squelch criticism with “surveillance” and propaganda, WikiLeaks would never have happened.
It’s the secrecy, Mabel! The hidden lies, the deliberate suppression, the brutal wars, the filthy pollution, the institutionalized exploitation of poor people and sick people, the boundless greed, and the consistent denial.
George Bush must be very proud of the way govt has grabbed control of this
situation. Joe Lieberman has been speed dialing any business with dealings
with wikileaks to threaten the consequences of govt displeasure. A govt
lockdown of the internet has begun, starting with federal computers, the
Library of Congress, and military installations. All state university networks are
considering blocking wikileaks for fear they’ll not be able to get financial aid for
their students. Sweden has been reminded of what’s in the best interest of the
bilateral relationship.
And this is before wikileaks has even been charged with anything. Okay, yes—
his condom broke.
By Beltwaylaid, December 6, 2010 at 3:59 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Preemptive strike on what is feared to come. So far
just soap opera material and embarrassing. Real meat
to follow if the new world order will permit? How many
billions will the world spend on this new war on a
single ‘terrorist’?
By John P., December 6, 2010 at 3:03 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Once again it all leads back to this:
Julian Assange of WIKILEAKS
“...Plans which assist authoritarian rule, once discovered, induce resistance.
Hence these plans are concealed by successful authoritarian powers. This is
enough to define their behavior as conspiratorial.”
Understand the above statement, and you understand the current government
in place and how they maintain rule.
————————————————————————————-
It’s all too clear. Illuminate others. Lets change America. Lets make our country
great again. It was once for a short time after WW2.
Keeping Wikileaks in the public eye is paramount and desperate.
Although JFK had his own indiscretions, he and RFK were on record as saying they wanted to diminish the CIA control based on their illegal and unauthorized tactics throughout the World at that time. Am told that former President G.H.W.Bush, his family, and many of his Skull & Bones cronies had much to do with the clandestine operations of the CIA at that time, placing those cronies in financial positions in order to control without detection. I do know of the fate of the Kennedy’s who doth protest them. I’m not saying, I’m just saying, that history says maybe. Hearing the truth from the likes of a Wikileaks, based on documentation available from whence it came, is embarrassing to those who live it but more refreshing to the likes of me. World Intelligence is a necessity, but in the wrong hands is destructive to the very people it should protect. I only hope the Financial establishment(Bank) information still comes out since I think it is the main reason Wikileaks is being shutdown. Protect the Financial community and the lock that they strangle each of us with every day at any cost yet to hell with our government and country. Wikileaks, like the CIA or any privileged organization, can be or become corrupted, but I don’t hear anyone saying this info was wrong, just wrongfully appropriated. I want to know about the Bank, as soon as possible.
By moni, December 5, 2010 at 5:55 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Hey this time I get to edit . . . Obama Administration and the Pentagon HAVE both FORBADE not forbid. Just had to call your attention to that since I got “shellacked” for writing reaked instead of wreaked (havoc).
By altara, December 5, 2010 at 5:26 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
“Government Workers Ordered Not to Read Cables”
This is U.S. government? If a worker has already read some, must that worker undergo electric shock treatment in order to forget?
By Bobi6, December 5, 2010 at 3:40 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I am not happy with everything the government does but don’t blame all
the hardworking bureaucrats who keep this country going. Obama does
not completely stupid stuff and this is one of them. Yeah, those
government employees will have to go to a neighbors to read the cables
they want to see.
Remember the elected government is controlled by the corporations but
the rest of the government is our only hope at this point. Only they can
do the things to salvage this country and the environment. It is the elected
officials who are the problem.
Arctic Tundra ‘Will Turn to Forest’
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By G.Anderson, December 7, 2010 at 12:50 pm Link to this comment
Most of the information released, should not even be secret. But that’s not the real reason for all of this.
It’s because the truth makes it so much harder to tell believable lies. That’s what are government is based on now, telling believable lies.
If you had any doubts before that our government sees freedom, all freedom, as an enemy of it’s existence, then this should put that to rest.
So, now they will arrange, our daily 10 of hate around Mr. Assange. They will stop just short of having him paraded through times square in a cage, so people can throw rotten eggs at him.
They also want us to hate, hate ourselves, hate everyone and each other. Hate makes people easier to manipulate, because it creates social isolation.
These are proably the same folks that murdered JFK, RFK, Paul Wellstone, etc.. Their capable of anything.
So, we’re all potential terrorists to them, so they’ll be watching each and every one of us.
But feel free to hate, that’s encouraged.
Report thisBy Joe Blond, December 7, 2010 at 12:37 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
“HAVE both FORBADE not forbid”
wait, isn’t it *forbidden*? I’m not promoting nit-picky (hyphenated or not?) shellacking — just curious.
Report thisBy Jaime Cadle, December 6, 2010 at 11:48 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
This is obviously meant to contain any subversive thought internally, as State Department employees may now be subject to disciplinary action in the case that any may become a smarty pants with regard to this new take on their role in the world that they were ordered not to read about. Clinton just threatened personal hardship to government employees for consuming information that is freely available to every other person on the planet (those with access, anyway). Those of us who can differentiate ourselves from the red white and blue should see, by now, that one has a future and the other is finished. Red white and blue no longer belongs to us, and we should let it go, like we should have let our too-big-to-fail banks go. Identity is a choice of free human beings, not a birthright. Only captains are obliged to ride a sinking ship to the deapths. Let’s stop bailing and swim for it!
Report thisBy gerard, December 6, 2010 at 9:09 pm Link to this comment
Although it seems very few people are speaking up for Assange and the real significance of the WkiLeaks, the London Guardian, as usual, is open to analysis and support:
John Naughten, in the London Guardian, 12/6:
Head—“LIVE WITH THE WIKILEAKABLE WORLD OR SHUT DOWN THE NET. iT’S YOUR CHOICE.”
Subhead—“Western political elites obfuscate, lie and bluster—and when the veil of secrecy is lifted, they try to kill the essenger.”
From the body of the article: “Consider, for instance, how the views of the US administration have changed in just a year. On 21 January, secretary of state Hillary Clinton made a landmark speech about internet freedom, in Washington DC, which many people welcomed and most interpreted as a rebuke to China for its alleged cyberattack on Google. ‘Information has never been so free,’ declared Clinton. ‘Even in authoritarian countries, information networks are helping people discover new facts and making governments more accountable.’”
“She went on to relate how, during his visit to China in November 2009, Barack Obama had “defended the right of people to freely access information, and said that the more freely information flows the stronger societies become. He spoke about how access to information helps citizens to hold their governments accountable, generates new ideas, and encourages creativity.” Given what we now know, that Clinton speech reads like a satirical masterpiece.”
Report thisBy PatrickHenry, December 6, 2010 at 8:11 pm Link to this comment
mack894,
So much for the presumption of innocence, cornerstone of our judicial system.
Report thisBy gerard, December 6, 2010 at 7:14 pm Link to this comment
from Heather Broooke, London Guardian, today:
“WikiLeaks: The revolution has begun and it will be digitalized.”
“We are at a pivotal moment where the visionaries at the vanguard of a global digital age are clashing with those who are desperate to control what we know. WikiLeaks is the guerrilla front in a global movement for greater transparency and participation. There are projects like Ushahidi that use social networking to create maps where locals can report incidents of violence that challenge the official version of events. There are activists seeking to free official data so that citizens can see, for example, government spending in detail.
Ironically, the US state department has been one of the biggest cheerleaders for technical innovation as a means of bringing democracy to places like Iran and China. President Obama has urged repressive regimes to stop censoring the internet, yet a bill before Congress would allow the attorney general to create a blacklist of websites. Is robust democracy only good when it’s not at home?
It used to be that a leader controlled citizens by controlling information. Now it’s harder than ever for the powerful to control what people read, see and hear. Technology gives people the ability to band together and challenge authority. The powerful have long spied on citizens (surveillance) as a means of control, now citizens are turning their collected eyes back upon the powerful (sousveillance).
This is a revolution, and all revolutions create fear and uncertainty. Will we move to a New Information Enlightenment or will the backlash from those who seek to maintain control no matter the cost lead us to a new totalitarianism? What happens in the next five years will define the future of democracy for the next century, so it would be well if our leaders responded to the current challenge with an eye on the future.”
Postscript: Never thought I’d live long enough to see the day when my government forbid its citizens to read information spread throughout the world. Am wondering now if it’s okay to read it in French? Or German? Or Swahili? What a mockery our government has made of “the four freedoms”—and within the short span of a relatively few years. All because it is afraid of criticism. How sad!
The irony being, that if our government had not shut out effective communication with its citizens and tried to squelch criticism with “surveillance” and propaganda, WikiLeaks would never have happened.
It’s the secrecy, Mabel! The hidden lies, the deliberate suppression, the brutal wars, the filthy pollution, the institutionalized exploitation of poor people and sick people, the boundless greed, and the consistent denial.
Report thisBy mack894, December 6, 2010 at 6:07 pm Link to this comment
George Bush must be very proud of the way govt has grabbed control of this
situation. Joe Lieberman has been speed dialing any business with dealings
with wikileaks to threaten the consequences of govt displeasure. A govt
lockdown of the internet has begun, starting with federal computers, the
Library of Congress, and military installations. All state university networks are
considering blocking wikileaks for fear they’ll not be able to get financial aid for
their students. Sweden has been reminded of what’s in the best interest of the
bilateral relationship.
And this is before wikileaks has even been charged with anything. Okay, yes—
Report thishis condom broke.
By Jim Michie, December 6, 2010 at 5:33 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
WELCOME TO AMERIKA!
Report thisBy Beltwaylaid, December 6, 2010 at 3:59 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Preemptive strike on what is feared to come. So far
Report thisjust soap opera material and embarrassing. Real meat
to follow if the new world order will permit? How many
billions will the world spend on this new war on a
single ‘terrorist’?
By John P., December 6, 2010 at 3:03 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Once again it all leads back to this:
Julian Assange of WIKILEAKS
“...Plans which assist authoritarian rule, once discovered, induce resistance.
Hence these plans are concealed by successful authoritarian powers. This is
enough to define their behavior as conspiratorial.”
Understand the above statement, and you understand the current government
in place and how they maintain rule.
————————————————————————————-
It’s all too clear. Illuminate others. Lets change America. Lets make our country
great again. It was once for a short time after WW2.
Keeping Wikileaks in the public eye is paramount and desperate.
Report thisBy CaptRon, December 5, 2010 at 6:40 pm Link to this comment
Although JFK had his own indiscretions, he and RFK were on record as saying they wanted to diminish the CIA control based on their illegal and unauthorized tactics throughout the World at that time. Am told that former President G.H.W.Bush, his family, and many of his Skull & Bones cronies had much to do with the clandestine operations of the CIA at that time, placing those cronies in financial positions in order to control without detection. I do know of the fate of the Kennedy’s who doth protest them. I’m not saying, I’m just saying, that history says maybe. Hearing the truth from the likes of a Wikileaks, based on documentation available from whence it came, is embarrassing to those who live it but more refreshing to the likes of me. World Intelligence is a necessity, but in the wrong hands is destructive to the very people it should protect. I only hope the Financial establishment(Bank) information still comes out since I think it is the main reason Wikileaks is being shutdown. Protect the Financial community and the lock that they strangle each of us with every day at any cost yet to hell with our government and country. Wikileaks, like the CIA or any privileged organization, can be or become corrupted, but I don’t hear anyone saying this info was wrong, just wrongfully appropriated. I want to know about the Bank, as soon as possible.
Report thisBy Druthers, December 5, 2010 at 6:21 pm Link to this comment
Dear followers, Big Brother has spoken so close your eyes and repeat after me, “I love Big Brother.”
Report thisBy moni, December 5, 2010 at 5:55 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Hey this time I get to edit . . . Obama Administration and the Pentagon HAVE both FORBADE not forbid. Just had to call your attention to that since I got “shellacked” for writing reaked instead of wreaked (havoc).
Report thisBy altara, December 5, 2010 at 5:26 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
“Government Workers Ordered Not to Read Cables”
This is U.S. government? If a worker has already read some, must that worker undergo electric shock treatment in order to forget?
homer http://www.altara.blogspot.com
Report thisBy PatrickHenry, December 5, 2010 at 5:06 pm Link to this comment
Once again I am awe struck by the rationality of those who lead this country and the assinine decisions they make.
Report thisBy Bobi6, December 5, 2010 at 3:40 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I am not happy with everything the government does but don’t blame all
the hardworking bureaucrats who keep this country going. Obama does
not completely stupid stuff and this is one of them. Yeah, those
government employees will have to go to a neighbors to read the cables
they want to see.
Remember the elected government is controlled by the corporations but
Report thisthe rest of the government is our only hope at this point. Only they can
do the things to salvage this country and the environment. It is the elected
officials who are the problem.