Clinton contacts countries before Wikileaks release

November 28, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has reached out to Germany and a handful of other countries to contain the diplomatic fallout ahead of the publication of classified cables and documents, the State Department said Saturday.

Clinton contacted leaders in Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France and Afghanistan, spokesman PJ Crowley posted on his Twitter account. According to earlier media reports, U.S. officials also have contacted officials in Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Israel, Norway and others to discuss the potential impact of the unauthorized leak.

WikiLeaks, the self-proclaimed whistleblower website, has indicated it will publish nearly 3 million documents. In the past, it has released secret papers through The New York Times, the Guardian and the German magazine Der Spiegel. The release is expected to take place within days, but WikiLeaks has not specified the timing.

The State Department is worried the information could include embarrassing details or communications about other countries and is moving to contain the damage.

The revelations could be “harmful to the United States and our interests” and “are going to create tension in relationships between our diplomats and our friends around the world,” Crowley said earlier this week.

The WikiLeaks release is expected to be the largest leak ever of classified documents. In October, WikiLeaks published nearly 400,000 classified U.S. military documents related to the war in Iraq. It had previously published tens of thousands of military papers about Afghanistan.

Washington has harshly condemned WikiLeaks, accusing it of compromising national security and putting lives at risk. The State Department maintains the documents have been stolen and should be returned.

The U.S. military arrested Pfc. Bradley Manning and transferred him to the United States in July in connection with leaking classified material to WikiLeaks. U.S. authorities have not said whether Bradley was behind the leaking of the Iraq war logs or the forthcoming State Department documents.

Manning was working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq at the time of his arrest and reportedly had access to classified material. Reports said the military had obtained evidence from his computer showing he had downloaded secret information.