It brings back the unending journalist dilemma of the right of the public to information versus national security.
By Ron Synovitz
Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty
As the Pentagon investigates the potential damage from the leak of more than 91,000 classified U.S. military reports on the war in Afghanistan, the leak is fueling debate about the role of whistle-blowers as journalistic sources in the age of digital data.
WikiLeaks, a website that tries to foster policy debates by making classified information available to the public, received the cache of documents from sources it will not disclose. Wikileaks then passed the materials on to three media organizations — “The New York Times,” “The Guardian” newspaper in the United Kingdom, and “Der Spiegel” magazine in Germany.
Officials in Washington say they are concerned the leaks pose a national security threat and may endanger people in Afghanistan or Pakistan who have worked against the Taliban or Al Qaeda.