US Disconnects Access to Diplomatic Cables From Classified Network

Officials to Correct 'Weaknesses' in System

Faced with growing fallout over the release of diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks, the State Department has announced it is removing the cables from the US government’s classified computer network until certain “weaknesses” can be fixed.


The cables had previously been accessible through SIPRNet, an ostensibly secure network which is accessable by millions of officials and soldiers. It is presumably through this network that the cables were obtained and leaked to WikiLeaks.

Officials have suggested that Bradley Manning, an Army intelligence analyst, was likely the leaker of these documents, and he would have had accress to them through SIPRNet, along presumably with the other documents that he leaked.

While this severely limits official access to the documents, it may also mean that officials who were using SIPRNet may have to turn to WikiLeaks document dump, incomplete though it still is, as the only convenient source for the files.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.