Plugging the WikiLeak: What can the government do?

Plugging the WikiLeak: What can the government do?

www.google.com

WASHINGTON — An online whistle-blower's threat to release more classified Pentagon and State Department documents is raising difficult questions of what the government can or would do, legally, technically or even militarily to stop it.
Constrained by the global reach of the Internet, sophisticated encryption software and the domestic legal system, the answer seems to be: Not much.
But if the U.S. government believes that the release of classified documents WikiLeaks is preparing to disclose will threaten national security or put lives at risk, cyber and legal experts say the options coul

(visit the link for the full news article)

I want to highlight this serious issue and specially the last important part of what the government may be planning to stop Wikileaks

But if the U.S. government believes that the release of classified documents WikiLeaks is preparing to disclose will threaten national security or put lives at risk, cyber and legal experts say the options could expand to include cyber strikes to take down the WikiLeaks website and destroy its files or covert operations to steal or disable the files.

Can you imagine that the so called experts suggesting strikes/ destroying website or steal and disable the files. And what did the files contain..the files contained the truth which the government is trying to hide from not only American citizens but from the entire world.

Does anyone remember how people like Dick Cheney disclosed the identity of under cover CIA agents (Valerie Palma), and it was OK to print that. Why didn't these so called experts raised the possibility of destroying, striking or eliminating that leak source? Or do we need some kind of referee to tell us which leaks are ok and which are not.

Perhaps Pentagon or these experts don't realise how internet works. Today millions of people worldwide are supporting Wikileaks quest for truth and any such cyber attack on the website can have massive repercussions in the form of millions of cyber attacks on Pentagon and other government secured websites and not only attacks but it will confirm people's view that US Govt. has something to hide.

www.google.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I don't know, but things seem to be moving along nicely so far and the angrier, more foolish and defensive they get, *** ***** ******* **** ****.

Yeah, I'm not going to help the wrong side. I'm just here to observe.

The U.S Pentagon are not interested in what we know, they are scared how we can prove it!

Thanks for the article. It seems stupid that the USA might try to take down Wikileaks, or try and come up with a crime that they can charge Assange with.

I'm not sure how it all works but these are some thoughts I had. Assange is a spokesman for Wikileaks, there is nothing to say that he personally is responsible for putting the files on there. Anybody in any country could be doing that. So I would assume that they would need actual proof that it is actually Assange that has physically done it if they wanted to charge him? Or are they going to charge some guy somewhere who might have uploaded it?

And then, if there was a charge to be brought, how would they enforce it? All he has to do is stay in a country where no extradition agreement exists with America, surely? And there are lots of countries whose laws support Wikileaks's activities, and who would use their sovereignty to not bend over to America's demands.

The information is out there and has been duplicated all across the internet, there is no stopping it now, so I wonder how they think they are going to put a halt to any further information being released given the way that this has happened so far? Anyone could open up another, or any number, of websites and do the same, so where does it all stop? Arresting Assange will not stop websites such as Wikileaks.

Ramble, ramble, just some thoughts.

I guess it would be simple enough to craft a virus/worm to benignly infect as many machines as possible and only become active and cause damage upon detection of, say, a file with the AES256 encryption code.

I'm just as curious as everyone else as to what is being held behind that encryption, but I won't touch any of the files and instead see what others post of their findings come disclosure

This Wikileaks thing is a mean cat they will never get back into the bag ...This story has so much more to it that is possible for one mind to imagine ...I am so glad I found ATS and for the people that contribute ...Good post keep them coming.

Besides destroying the Wikileaks website, they are also trying to stop where the information comes from, ...

U.S. Military BANNED From Viewing WikiLeaks

The Pentagon has banned the U.S. military from viewing anything related to WikiLeaks, the website for whistleblowers which controversially released thousands of classified government documents detailing the war in Afghanistan.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told the Washington Times that all four services -- the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard -- have told their staff that the site is off-limits.

Pentagon Bars Staff From Visiting WikiLeaks

The orders seem to be the most far-reaching effort by the Pentagon in its ongoing effort to stop the release of classified information. The military is telling the troops they cannot even view what is publicly available, even though the WikiLeaks documents are on hundreds of websites.
******SKIP******
"By willingly accessing the WIKILEAKS website for the purpose of viewing the posted classified material - these actions constitute the unauthorized processing, disclosure, viewing, and downloading of classified information onto an UNAUTHORIZED computer system not approved to store classified information, meaning they have WILLINGLY committed a SECURITY VIOLATION."

"Not only are these actions illegal, but they provide the justification for local security officials to immediately remove, suspend 'FOR CAUSE' all security clearances and accesses. Commanders may press for Article 15 or 32 charges, and USMC personnel could face a financial hardship as civilian and contractor personnel will be placed on 'Administrative Leave' pending the outcome of the [criminal] investigation," the message states.

Speakin' of "Pentagon Censorship" ????

USMC Personnel (Marines/Civilians/Contractors) are hereby cautioned and directed to NOT access the WIKILEAKS website from a personally owned, publically owned or US Government computer system.
******SKIP******
Do not ask friends to access the website from their home computer. The above negative actions will wreak havoc on a CI Poly when the question comes up regarding unauthorized disclosure, espionage, misuse of government information system or having committed a security violation. In a best case scenario, the case will be referred to NCIS and the personnel will lose their computer for however long NCIS requires. By the time the case is adjudicated, the USMC personnel will most likely lose the assignment for which her/she had to take the poly in the first place.
******SKIP******
The Director of DIA has stated that he wants all personnel requesting a JWICS accounts to undergo a CI POLY. This means - at some point in the near future EVERYONE will be required to undergo a CI POLY. If they purposely accessed the "WIKILEAKS" website to view classified info - they have willingly placed classified information on an open network not authorized to view classified information and have willingly committed a security violation. In most cases they will fail the CI POLY.

Well, this is the military trying to "plug" the (Wiki)"LEAK" before it ever gets to Wikileaks.

[edit on 8/7/2010 by Keyhole]

I think the whole Wikileaks thing is mostly propaganda with ulterior motives to attack the Internet as a whole. But this is merely my instinctual predicament, and admittedly is just a hypothesis based on circumstantial occurrences.

Why has there never been press over the countless other websites that are currently exposing countless things?

It's like the Pentagon never noticed any of the other leaks, and is focused primarily on this one aspect.

Also, the information leaked is not really that high of a secret, the documents would have been declassified within a few years anyways.

Now, if Wikileaks starts releasing Cosmic or Majestic level secret documents, my eyebrows will raise, and my jaw will drop.

And then I may consider getting on the bandwagon with all of you wikileaks fans.

reply to post by muzzleflash


Ok then. Does it make sense to even consider that maybe "they", whomever "they" may be, decided it was better to leak than to admit? Someone I read here considered there could be a major internal rift; was that you?

This is a 2 part problem. The first part is that the Pentagon and military officials, do remember the vietnam era, and the first time scenes of the battlefield got viewed by the public. This ultimately caused the general public to decry against the vietnam conflic, and made people to go against the Government and cause mass civil unrest.
So the first thing the Government is trying to do is damage control. The other thing that the government can do, and it is in the works, is to get an injunction against the Freedom of Information ACT, along with classifiying all of the documents that are suspected to be taken, to where it is against the law to have and or distribute these documents, to prevent such from being viewed by the general population, along with giving an order, to where everything that happens in a conflict zone is now classified information, talking or distributing first hand accounts is punishable, in accordance to the UCMJ, along with several federal statutes and laws.

reply to post by I AM LEGION


woah. The first cyber war!

Better get my tron gear out!

I think that Anonymous would not look too kindly upon such an action...the people who are protecting the people who are screwing up our world for everyone else need to man up and accept that this isn't their parents world anymore...

Originally posted by EnlightenUp
reply to post by muzzleflash

 

Ok then. Does it make sense to even consider that maybe "they", whomever "they" may be, decided it was better to leak than to admit? Someone I read here considered there could be a major internal rift; was that you?

I have thought about internal rifts a lot, and mentioned it before, but it was probably someone else that said it about Wikileaks that you are thinking about specifically.

I do not discount this theory, it's a good theory.

And you may be right. Only time will tell I guess. Like all of you, I really want to know the truth, but am suspicious.

The standard response to subversion is usually to smear and discredit, it often works so they will keep at it for now - it's the old adage, if you throw enough.....

Simple.

Order a black ops unit to Sweden to take out the server park running the Wikileaks web site. Make it a false flag operation where the cover story is muslim fanatics wanting revenge for the Lars Virks cartoonist depiction of the prophet Mohammed as a dog.

Spin it in the media for a couple of weeks and use the response from the muslim world as a excuse to bomb Iran back to the stone age. Once a couple of million Iranians have been murdered, whine about 2000 American lives being lost and spin it in the media again to gain back support from the clueless audience.




[edit on 7-8-2010 by Copernicus]

It would seem to me that we are down to a couple of choices here. Either WL is a real conduit for whistleblowers and it is all above board. Or they are a front for an antagonist in the epic put on for our amusement.

I am with Muzzleflash. Show me some real leaks. Until then, i see it as being more of an agent provocateur than a source of information.

They have my attention, but keep underwhelming me with what they say.

Americans won't be banned from viewing Wikileaks...only the military and government personnel will be. The government doesn't want their co-workers a few levels down to know the truth.


However, for us, their slaves, they could give a F*ck less. We can discuss it all we want...but like another member posted..until we can Prove something...the government simply is not worried about what we know. Without solid proof or evidence, there is no harm they sense.

IMO, the same goes for 9/11. We can discuss the Many theories of who did it, what was planted, CGI smoke, etc....but it doesn't matter because obviously, since we are so free to discuss such information and no one is being silenced/censored over such speculations, perhaps the conspiracy theorists aren't even close to solving the 9/11 mystery...

...or maybe, gasp, they're completely wrong about 9/11 being a conspiracy theory in the first place. Therefore, the government senses no harm in 9/11 "truth" discussions.

But that's a whole different topic for another thread.

We the "free" won't be barred from viewing Wikileaks...but the day we are, well...nothing new really. Their has been various blackouts throughout US history.

Cheers.

Read it and weep.

Thats what they can do.

reply to post by I AM LEGION


It was Valerie Plame, not Palma.

Edit** Memory Shock, what on earth are Anonymous going to do versus the US government? Like they are going to strike out if this happened or something? What was the meaning of your post? Just curious.

[edit on 8/7/2010 by sputniksteve]