Lady Godiva Meets George Orwell

We learn from the New York Times ("Don’t Look, Don’t Read: Government Warns Its Workers Away From WikiLeaks Documents") that the Obama White House has decreed that a federal worker or contractor may not look at the WikiLeaks documents, unless the individual is cleared for the classification level placed on a particular document.

Lady Godiva rides again!

WikiLeaks

Today's big news is the latest document dump from WikiLeaks. I don't condone leaking classified material, but I have a few comments based on what I've read so far:

• The best way not to be embarrassed by something you might do or say is not to do or say it in the first place.
• In general, honesty is the best policy. Saying one thing publicly and something else in private, when revealed, destroys your credibility.
• It's likely that our allies and enemies already know what we think of them and their leaders. Why bother to try and keep it secret?
• According to an article I read, three million people, including lowly enlisted personnel, had access to the leaked documents. Anyone who believed the documents wouldn't be leaked by someone was dreaming.
• An archive system should sound loud alarms when someone downloads large quantities of material. Either someone designed the archive without such alarms or someone wasn't paying attention to the alarms (if any).
• As in so many other situations, the classification system was sometimes used to hide mistakes from our citizens. We rightly expect better from our military and public officials.