NATO Official To CNN On WikiLeaks: "Not Been A Single Case Of Afghans Needing Protection Or Moved"

[Hissyspit]

But a senior NATO official in Kabul told CNN that there has not been a single case of Afghans needing protection or to be moved because of the leak.

A little buried in the article, but there it is.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/10/16/wikileaks.assessment

Gates: Leaked documents don't reveal key intel, but risks remain
By Adam Levine, CNN
October 17, 2010 -- Updated 1034 GMT (1834 HKT)

Washington (CNN) -- The online leak of thousands of secret military documents from the war in Afghanistan by the website WikiLeaks did not disclose any sensitive intelligence sources or methods, the Department of Defense concluded. However, there is still concern Afghans named in the published documents could be retaliated against by the Taliban.

The assessment, revealed in a letter from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Michigan), comes after a thorough Pentagon review of the more than 70,000 documents posted to the controversial whistle-blower site in July. The letter, provided to CNN, was written August 16 by Gates in response to a query by the senator regarding the leak of classified information.

- snip -

"The initial assessment in no way discounts the risk to national security," Gates wrote. "However, the review to date has not revealed any sensitive intelligence sources and methods compromised by the disclosure."

The defense secretary said that the published documents do contain names of some cooperating Afghans, who could face reprisal by Taliban. But a senior NATO official in Kabul told CNN that there has not been a single case of Afghans needing protection or to be moved because of the leak.

MORE

[Donald Ian Rankin]

1. I'm not terribly convinced by this, I'm afraid.

It's entirely possible that there genuinely haven't been any Afghans needing protection, but I'm afraid I don't think that the fact that NATO hasn't decided someone needs protection is terribly good evidence that they don't.

[EFerrari]

2. If they were turning up dead, the Pentagon would be using that

as a bludgeon on Wikileaks.