Washington, January 08: United States diplomats are warnings hundreds of human rights activists, businessmen and foreign government officials they are in danger after the massive WikiLeaks dump, The New York Times said Friday.
A team of some 30 people in Washington and U.S. embassies across the world are tasked with the operation amid U.S. fears that the disclosure of some of the quarter million classified diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks has hurt Washington’s interests by exposing diplomats’ sources, the Times said.
Officials from President Barack Obama’s administration told the newspaper that some of the sources for the leaked cables were relocated within their home countries and others were moved abroad, though they were not aware of anyone being attacked or imprisoned over the leaks.
“We feel responsible for doing everything possible to protect these people,” Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Michael Posner, who is overseeing the damage control effort, told the Times. “We’re taking it extremely seriously.”
About the 99 percent of 251,287 cables obtained by the whistleblower website have not been released yet, but the State Department has reviewed most of the documents and distributed many of them for review by diplomats posted at embassies abroad.
WikiLeaks and a small group of newspapers — including the Times — that first released some of the cables have redacted them to remove many names of sources.
But Washington is also concerned that foreign intelligence services are seeking to obtain the entire raft of documents, according to the Times.
–Agencies