How did he do it?

"Col. Lang, No, you are right about thumb drives and such. While they are indeed disabled on most networks, in theater they are very common because there are a large number of laptops and stand-alone computers that require a "sneaker-net." When I was there, we had to use a thumb-drive to load threat data into our helicopter's moving-map display, for instance. You're also right that these documents come from an operational and not an intelligence source. They look to me to be a dump from the theater SIGACTs database which is accessible by pretty much everyone in the theater. It's a mix of operational and low-level intel information - a kind of news ticker for the theater. As a result, a lot of the reports turn out to be wrong or incomplete. Therefore, the information contained in this should be taken with a huge grain of salt. We don't know which reports turned out to be accurate, which ones only provided part of the picture and which ones were flat-out wrong. Without additional sourcing it's impossible to look at this database and determine which category a particular report falls into. In the end this database will only be useful to those who subscribe to the Doug Feith method of analysis, a five step process: 1. Begin with the desired conclusion. 2. Troll whatever data is available and specifically look for and pull information that supports the desired conclusion. Ignore any contrary information. 3. Assemble the collected data and make it look like "analysis" supporting the conclusion from step 1. 4. Disseminate the "analysis" to useful idiots, particularly those who can affect policymaking. 5. Profit! =="

Andy

Comments

[DanM]

At the very moment I was reading this post, Julian Assange popped up on MSNBC. The sound was off. But the caption summarizing his comments read: "Assange: No reason analysis is more accurate than raw evidence." (leaving aside the rather imprecise -- to be kind -- use of the word "evidence.")

[John Minnerath]

I know Secret classification is no longer what it was when I was in the Army 48 years ago,
but aren't people still given a thorough background investigation and interviewed extensively to determine if they're worthy of the responsibility.
We all were routinely given talks on the subject of classified materials.
Secrets is secrets!

[Jose]

Just speculation on my part, but this/these files(s) were probably too large for a thumb drive.

Easier to just make a copy of a backup drive(s) using any of various products available freely from the web.

The key point to me is, how did he manage to get it past the Security protocols.

I don't know what is the big fuss, because their wasn't anything in there that wasn't already known.

ISI helping the Taliban, please get serious and accept Geopolitical realities.

Assassination Squads, in this Titanic struggle out best weapons are Lighting Bolts, Tridents, and The Helm of Darkness...remember worked once...lol

[Cloned Poster]

how did he manage to get it past the Security protocols.

I am sure there are private contractors out there working on it.

[robt willmann]

From all appearances -- even though appearances can be deceiving -- and from the comments made here, the documents are authentic.

This raises the question: is Wikileaks authentic?

Or is it a front operation run by the CIA or Pentagon to gather information on leakers, and when they leak, to control what is leaked?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Trust

I have not heard of anything earthshaking that the site has revealed.

I want to see all that stuff from the State Department and elsewhere that had to do with "diplomacy", so we can see who was bribed with our taxpayer money, for how much, and who was playing hard to get.

[Patrick Lang]

RW

Nah, c'mon. Just a fatheaded kid with access to a lot of ephemera. pl

[Patrick Lang]

CP

"Security Protocols?" This kid worked with this material every day as did thousands of others. security in this instance depends on fear of prosecution for disclusoure. So, prosecute him. pl

[Medicine Man]

I have to laugh at the description of the Doug Feith method. A funny observation because it is so damned true.

[William R. Cumming]

So it looks like ISI had all the sensitive stuff and immediately passed it on to their Taliban allies?

[Norman Rogers]

CENTCOM's CIDNE database is suspected to have been the source of the data.

http://www.issinc.com/solutions/cidne.html

It's wonderful what open source can tell you these days, is it not?

I'm maintaining radio silence and hoping no one misses my mea culpa for nitpicking about the thumb drives earlier.

[Cold War Zoomie]

...so we can see who was bribed with our taxpayer money, for how much, and who was playing hard to get.

One man's "bribe" is another man's "foreign aid."

Why not bribe if it's more cost effective? I'm not against bribes - as long as they're smart. But I'm not sure we Americans understand that game well enough.

[shepherd]

In setting up security for any network, you have two options: you can restrict access to functionality as a proactive measure or you can create an audit trail as a deterrent. If you restrict access to functionality, you degrade efficiency. If you rely on an audit trail, you make it easy for a determined leaker to do his thing. The audit trail part of the system worked as it should--the leaker simply wasn't deterred by the threat of punishment. Blame the folks who didn't explain how good the audit trail was or what the consequences were. Or maybe the leaker is a true believer (not sure exactly what he believes in). In any case, they have him dead to rights.

Since the information isn't really all that new or interesting, the folks who set up the system probably made the right call.

[Norbert M. Salamon]

Perhaps, Colonel, if this affair gets the world closer to ending this fiasco [the War on Terror, or the War on AFghanistan, or the War on Afpak, take your cchoice of nomenclature], the person procuring these files should get a Presidential Medal of Honor, for serving the need of the citizens - get the armed forces home and spend the money on your economy in your Homeland!

[Roy G]

Robt. Willmann, if Wikileaks is a front, it's a masterpiece. I don't think any agency could conceive of Julian Assange. Look into his background and see if that's really plausible.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/07/the-man-behind-wikileaks-a-julian-assange-cheat-sheet.html

Also, Wikileaks is a global operation. The US govt. is by no means its sole focus.

[JohnH]

"It's a mix of operational and low-level intel information - a kind of news ticker for the theater. As a result, a lot of the reports turn out to be wrong or incomplete."

Yep, a news ticker. What used to drive journalism.
Get enough of it, and good journalists (a mostly vanished breed) would connect the dots and provide information.

I can't judge if the 2000 documents provide enough information to accurately connect dots or not. Surely more is to come, so real analysis and information may well emerge before long. Then the administration's goose will be cooked.

Sad that most of today's journalists just regurgitate what they have been spoon fed by self serving "experts."

[Bought&Sold]

Does everyone know that Pfc Bradley Manning(Born 1987)Who Has Been Arrested Used The Internet Name DRADASS87 In His Passing Of The Intel. You don't know to laught Or Cry.Of Course He Was Only 22.

[Kim Viner]

Jose - you can buy a 64 GIG!! thumb drive for less than a hundred fifty bucks. You can but a 128 GB for less than $300. My entire hard drive with massive programs, the OS and several thousand emails and hundreds of photos takes up only 140 Gigs. No problem to put 90000 only text messages on a 64 gig flash drive.

[CK]

I've always enjoyed http://cryptome.org/
a repository of embarassing details,

[R Whitman]

Are we all "drinking the Koolaid". Everyone here assumes that some low level grunt with an ax to grind stole the info. Perhaps not. Imagine if there were an open portal from the classified network to the Internet. Download heaven.

Before you say "impossible", remember the Wen Ho Lee case. He was accused of giving copies of newly designed nuclear weapons to the Chinese. Later we found out that the Chinese got all their info from an open contractor source on the internet.

[jonst]

Personally, I would not believe, and I don't believe, a single thing this gov't and Admin say/write/hint at/wink at. All the way from the top guy, Obama, down to the lowliest Private.

Not because they are all liars, but because so many of them are, the vast majority perhaps. So many of them are clueless/kept in the dark if they are not liars that I see no use, nor any way, of getting to the truth. The 'truth' is surround, and guarded, by Praetorian Guards.

This has become all about money and career advancement. From one end of the globe to the other. The main task is to prevent the dozing Americans from being disturbed, waking up, and saying 'stop it'. They need have no fear of this. If the vast majority did wake up...they would not say stop it...they would say give me my cut.

Nor do I believe the professional 'give me more' organizers. Whether it is give me more grants, give me more jobs, give me more consulting contracts, give me more funding, give me more ratings, give me more hits. Give me more speaking fees, whatever.

I believe none of them. Again, not because all people are frauds. But because so many of them are that I can't discern anymore who is what. And so my default setting is 'bullshit.....it is all about the money, the payoff has simply gotten too big'.

[Patrick Lang]

johnst

I think the "clueless" part is the most telling of you criticisms. The level of focus on execution of bad policy, policy made in ignorance is prevalent. pl

[confusedponderer]

Kim Viner,

Jose - you can buy a 64 GIG!! thumb drive for less than a hundred fifty bucks. You can but a 128 GB for less than $300. My entire hard drive with massive programs, the OS and several thousand emails and hundreds of photos takes up only 140 Gigs. No problem to put 90000 only text messages on a 64 gig flash drive.

You need much less space. 90.000 text only messages would probably be - off the top of my head - not much more than, say, 1.6 GB. Tops! On Amazon simple 8GB thumbdrives go at about 15-20 $.

And if you compress the data, using 7z archives or the like, you won't reduce size by all that much, but you'll greatly reduce transfer time - to a few minutes instead of maybe hours. A single large file moves far faster to a thumbdrive than many very small ones individually.

[Jackie]

Col.,
Any comments on the $8.7 billion that the Pentagon can't account for in Iraq? Or is it just standard operating procedure?

[Andy]

Just as a point of clarification, the actual data is 16mb compressed - small enough to be stored on almost anything.

[par4]

Andy's #5 is the most essential point. PROFIT for the few that own this country. Everything else is irrelevant.