WikiLeaks Resources

 

WikiLeaks is an international, non-profit organization which gathers leaked documents that for the most part are private, secret, and/or classified.  The documents are uploaded to the WikiLeaks Web Site as well as distributed to select news outlets. The Web Site was launched in 2006 by Julian Assange for the purpose of exposing oppressive regimes and making transparent previously opaque governmental and corporate activities around the world.  WikiLeaks depends for its content on whistleblowers and dissidents. There have been three major WikiLeaks document releases to high circulation newspapers around the world: The Afghan War Diaries         NYT (US)            The Guardian (UK)              Der Spiegel (Germany) Iraq War Logs         NYT (US)            The Guardian (UK)              Der Spiegel (Germany) U.S. Diplomatic Cables         NYT (US)            The Guardian (UK)              Der Spiegel (Germany)                     El País (Spain)

Time magazine's Dec.13, 2010  cover story was on Wikileaks.

 
Bradley Manning is a U.S. Army soldier who has been accused of aiding the enemy by leaking over 200,000 secret documents to WikiLeaks.  His pretrial hearing at Fort Meade in Maryland has just concluded. The New York Times has compiled these resources to help readers follow and understand the Bradley Manning Case: Times Topic: Bradley Manning.
 

TIMELINE: Click here for a WikiLeaks timeline of events from Euronews.
 

TEACHERS' RESOURCES

• The Ethics of the War Logs: Debating the Pros and Cons of WikiLeaks: From The Learning Network - Teaching and Learning with the New York Times, October 29, 2010.
• State's Secrets: Teaching about WikiLeaks: From The Learning Network - Teaching and Learning with the New York Times, November 30, 2010.

 

THE DEBATE: Examining the debate from both—or more—sides reveals a complex, often conflicting, set of values and ethics: on the one hand, dissidents scrutinizing and imposing limits on government secrecy which covers up clandestine wars and human rights violations. On the other hand, government invoking the Espionage Act to protect citizens from dissidents and potential terrorists.

PROs

• "WikiLeaks and the War" (from "Close Read" by Amy Davidson, a newyorker.com blog, July 26, 2010)
• "In Defence of WikiLeaks" (from "Democracy in America" an economist.com blog, November 19, 2010)
• "A Medal for Bradley Manning?" (Chase Madar, motherjones.com, July 7, 2011)
  

CONs

• "The Legal Case Against WikiLeaks" (Interview of John B. Bellinger III, Adjunct Senior Fellow for International and National Security Law, Council on Foreign Relations, December 13, 2010)
• "WikiLeaks Fails 'Due Diligence' Review" (Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News: Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy, June 28, 2010)
• "Rights Groups Join Criticism of WikiLeaks" (Jeanne Whalen, Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2010)