Resolved: Wikileaks has threatened U.S. National Security

Contention 1: International Cooperation and Cohesion 1. Leaks undermine critical information exchange A) Gabriel Schoenfeld, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, Congressional Documents and Publications, December 16, 2010, p . online writes: For one thing, leaks significantly impact our ability to engage in exchanges of information with allies and adversaries alike. Even routine diplomatic discourse becomes impossible if both foreign and American officials labor in fear that their confidential remarks are to going to end up on the front page of the New York Times via an outfit like WikiLeaks. More dangerous is the impact on intelligence sharing. In any particular instance in which information gathered by an ally is particularly sensitive, foreign intelligence officials can be quite reluctant to share it with our government if it will result in a headline that might compromise their own sources and methods, and possibly lead to the deaths of informants and agents. B) Grand Rapids Press, December 5, 2010, reports: There are things said in private, and there are things said in public. In the sensitive world of diplomacy -- where closed-door candor is just as important as carefully calibrated press releases -- the two should remain separate. The recent massive document dump from WikiLeaks reveals privileged and sometimes secret cables from U.S. diplomats around the world. The revelations jeopardize U.S. relations with other countries -- including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan -- put lives in danger and expose serious deficits in the Defense Department's ability to keep secrets. All of that is troubling, especially in a time of war. 2. Islamic terrorism is a transnational movement, and thus requires international cooperation A) Pino Arlacchi, UN Chronicles, writes: Mankind is facing its first great challenge of the twenty-first century, which has been labelled in media headlines as "the war against terrorism". But this is going to be entirely a new kind of war, because we face a new kind of enemy: this time it is not a single entity, not even a single State, but a network that functions in many countries and affects all countries, using advantages of globalization and modern technology. Over the last decade, gradually losing the sponsorship of States, international terrorism has developed a huge and well-concealed infrastructure of support. B) U.S. Department of State bulletin 2009 reports: The best strategy for dealing with terrorism--be it in the United States or abroad--is for the nations of the world to cooperate in fighting against the terrorists. We must make common cause and work together to ensure that terrorists are arrested, extradited, tried, and severely punished for their crimes. Above all, nations must stand together in dealing with countries that support terrorism, where possible to convince those countries to abandon their support for terrorism and, where this is not possible, to apply sanctions or other appropriate measures as incentives to change their behavior and to reduce their capacity to support terrorist acts… Improving international cooperation--not just between the United States and its traditional allies but also with other nations--must be one of the primary elements in any effective strategy for containing and deterring terrorist attacks. 3. Al Qaeda is trying to purchase nuclear materials in order to kill a lot of people A) Peter D. Zimmerman, professor of science and security in the Department of War Studies at King's College London, Jeffrey G. Lewis, executive director of the Managing the Atom Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, JFK School of Government, NATIONAL POST, December 20, 2006, p. A26 writes: Osama bin Laden's long-standing interest in developing nuclear weapons is deeply troubling, and the attempt to purchase uranium from the Sudanese was far from an isolated incident. Al-Qaeda operatives have repeatedly tried to acquire nuclear materials over the years. In August, 2001, a month before the September 11 attacks, bin Laden received two former Pakistani nuclear officials, asking them to help recruit other Pakistani scientists with expertise in building nuclear weapons. After the military effort to oust the Taliban from Afghanistan, U.S. forces found extensive documents, including crude bomb designs, at an al-Qaeda safe house in Kabul. In 2003, bin Laden sought a fatwa from an extremist Saudi cleric permitting the use of weapons of mass destruction, calling their acquisition a "religious duty." As recently as September, al-Qaeda put out a call urging nuclear scientists to join its war against the West. Bin Laden's attempt to purchase highly enriched uranium in the past belies the conventional wisdom that terrorists want a lot of people watching, not a lot of people dead. Clearly, some terrorists do want a lot of people dead.