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Wikileaks Warning Issued to Students at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs

The School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University has acknowledged that it sent an email to its students with a warning that students refrain from making comments about the leaked diplomatic cables on social media sites like Facebook or via Twitter and from posting links to the documents if they ever hope to work for the State Department in the future. The email from an unnamed individual at the school’s Office of Career Services reportedly relayed a recommendation made by a school alumnus in a telephone call to the school. According to the email, the alumnus works for the State Department at the present time.

Following is a copy of the email:

From: Office of Career Services
Date: Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 3:26 PM
Subject: Wikileaks – Advice from an alum
To: “Office of Career Services (OCS)”

Hi students,

We received a call today from a SIPA alumnus who is working at the State Department. He asked us to pass along the following information to anyone who will be applying for jobs in the federal government, since all would require a background investigation and in some instances a security clearance.

The documents released during the past few months through Wikileaks are still considered classified documents. He recommends that you DO NOT post links to these documents nor make comments on social media sites such as Facebook or through Twitter. Engaging in these activities would call into question your ability to deal with confidential information, which is part of most positions with the federal government.

Regards,
Office of Career Services

Philip J. Crowley, a State Department spokeman, however, has denied any federal involvement in relaying any such message about Wikileaks to anyone outside the State Department. Crowley reportedly said: “This is not true. We have instructed State Department employees not to access the WikiLeaks site and download posted documents using an unclassified network since these documents are still classified. We condemn what Mr. Assange is doing, but have given no advice to anyone beyond the State Department to my knowledge.”

When questioned why Columbia would have sent the message to its students, Crowley replied: “If an employee of the State Department sent such an email, it does not represent a formal policy position.”

The Lede (The New York Times)

Huffington Post

The Arabist

Updated to add the following link to a Huffington Post article dated 12/6/2010:
Columbia University Walks Back Anti-WikiLeaks Advice

(My thanks go to eniobob for that link.)

– Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

108 thoughts on “Wikileaks Warning Issued to Students at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs”

  1. So it is just a coincidence that Wikileaks sounds like Wikipedia? There was never any relationship?

    When I first heard the name Wikileaks it reminded me of the name Wikipedia because they both started with “wiki”. Was Wikileaks trying to sound like it was associated with Wikipedia.

  3. Puzzling I agree and I normally do. On top of that the proof is in the pudding because Anon Nurse wouldn’t have missed it either. So by your post the word got out. Sometimes I post links to stories in the thread like I did above for myself.

    You deserve all the credit

  4. scooped puzzling by almost an hour.

    Bdaman – For the record, if your link had included discussion of Assange handing himself in I wouldn’t have posted.

  5. I jus took this tidbit from the link I posted about Isreal and wikileaks:Above.

    “Wikileaks has been in existence since 2007, and its declared aim is to expose cases of corruption and cruelty worldwide. The identity of the website’s staff is unknown, and with the exception of its editor, Australian journalist Julian Paul Assange, none of them were ever exposed. People are aware of the organization’s existence, and of its ability to keep their identities secret”

  7. No problem, I know I’ve ruffled some feathers as of late but you can trust I’m still the same good guy you think/thought I was a few days ago even though we don’t agree much.

  8. The following comment was posted to the WikiLeaks_insurance link:

    comosally at 2010-12-06 06:28 CET:

    Seeding in Arizona.

    Assange is just a face, not an organization. He’s the guy willing to take the fall for this.

    Anyone ever thought about the fact that he’s the only name you know? Thats intentional.

    If he ends up dead, he’s a martyr for his cause, and that’s an honor very few ever get.

    With or without Assange, or even wikileaks at this point, the data will come out, thanks to the commitment of the P2P community, and that’s something a few choice governments are very afraid of.

    Sharing is caring.

    End of comment

  11. Bdaman,

    My apologies… I’m old and tired. And, as such, I missed it. Also very human… 🙂

    Kudos for posting it first. 🙂 Want to give credit where credit is due…

  12. Thanks for the update and link

    puzzling 1, December 6, 2010 at 5:18 pm

    Bdaman 1, December 6, 2010 at 4:24 pm

    scooped puzzling by almost an hour.

  13. anon nurse,

    The encrypted insurance file is available here.

    The software used to decrypt should the password be released is at aescrypt dot com.

  14. puzzling,

    Thanks for the update and link… — thanks for your comment… We’re clearly at a dangerous and critical tipping point, IMHO.

  15. Assange has agreed to hand himself in, possibly by Tuesday.

    I’d guess about 80% of those in the United States will cheer his detention… and the coming arrest and detention Wikileaks staffers worldwide.

    This event vividly shows the divide between so-called mainstream Republicans and Democrats on the one hand and a relatively tiny number of principled liberals and libertarians on the other.

    The dangerousness of the United States government is hard to overstate at this tipping point.

  16. http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/massive-release-of-raw-wikileaks-files-threatened-by-julian-assanges-lawyer/19747814

    (Dec. 6) — Julian Assange’s lawyer has warned that supporters of the WikiLeaks founder will unleash a “thermonuclear device” of government files containing the names of spies, sources and informants if he’s killed or brought to trial.

    Assange, the 39-year-old Australian who has most recently embarrassed the U.S. by leaking hundreds of previously secret diplomatic dispatches over the past week, has dubbed the unfiltered cache of documents his “insurance” policy. The 1.5-gigabyte file, which has been distributed to tens of thousands of fellow hackers and open-government campaigners around the world, is encrypted with a 256-digit key, reports The Sunday Times. Experts interviewed by the paper said that even powerful military computers can’t crack the encryption without the key.
    Keystone / APWikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says a cache of unfiltered government files containing the names of spies, sources and informants is his “insurance” policy, and his lawyer warns the documents will be released if he’s killed or brought to trial.

    Contained inside that file — named insurance.aes256 — are believed to be all of the documents that WikiLeaks has received to date, including unpublished papers on the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and papers belonging to BP and the Bank of America. Assange has previously suggested that the documents are unredacted, meaning they contain names that normally would be removed before publication to protect the lives of soldiers, spies and sources. end excerpt

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