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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. Eniobob it’s a crazy world. I think it was a setup of two women who are PLAYING scorned.

  2. Julian Assange Writes an Op-Ed for The Australian:

    Don’t shoot messenger for revealing uncomfortable truths
    By Julian Assange (12/8/2010)
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/wikileaks/dont-shoot-messenger-for-revealing-uncomfortable-truths/story-fn775xjq-1225967241332

    Excerpt:
    WIKILEAKS deserves protection, not threats and attacks.

    IN 1958 a young Rupert Murdoch, then owner and editor of Adelaide’s The News, wrote: “In the race between secrecy and truth, it seems inevitable that truth will always win.”

    His observation perhaps reflected his father Keith Murdoch’s expose that Australian troops were being needlessly sacrificed by incompetent British commanders on the shores of Gallipoli. The British tried to shut him up but Keith Murdoch would not be silenced and his efforts led to the termination of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.

    Nearly a century later, WikiLeaks is also fearlessly publishing facts that need to be made public.

    I grew up in a Queensland country town where people spoke their minds bluntly. They distrusted big government as something that could be corrupted if not watched carefully. The dark days of corruption in the Queensland government before the Fitzgerald inquiry are testimony to what happens when the politicians gag the media from reporting the truth.

    These things have stayed with me. WikiLeaks was created around these core values. The idea, conceived in Australia, was to use internet technologies in new ways to report the truth.

    WikiLeaks coined a new type of journalism: scientific journalism. We work with other media outlets to bring people the news, but also to prove it is true. Scientific journalism allows you to read a news story, then to click online to see the original document it is based on. That way you can judge for yourself: Is the story true? Did the journalist report it accurately?

    Democratic societies need a strong media and WikiLeaks is part of that media. The media helps keep government honest. WikiLeaks has revealed some hard truths about the Iraq and Afghan wars, and broken stories about corporate corruption.

    People have said I am anti-war: for the record, I am not. Sometimes nations need to go to war, and there are just wars. But there is nothing more wrong than a government lying to its people about those wars, then asking these same citizens to put their lives and their taxes on the line for those lies. If a war is justified, then tell the truth and the people will decide whether to support it.

  3. The U.S. State Department announced that we are hosting World Press Freedom Day 2011, Facebook page and comments here.

    New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals’ right to freedom of expression. At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information. We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age.

  4. Bdaman:

    I guess that would be a version of unprotected sex.But all I can say to that interpertation is WOW!

    “The two go out for dinner, return to the apartment and have sex during which a condom breaks. She would later tell police”

  8. On my way home from my “honey do” day,a commentator said the sex charge against Assange is that he had “unprotected sex and wasn’t married to the other participant”.
    Don’t shoot the messenger:=)

  11. And the abuse — and it is abuse — goes way, way beyond interception of e-mail, phone calls and “other communications.”

    The goons involved in the games on the street continue to act with a sense of impunity, as good people are harassed and psychologically terrorized…

  12. posted by Jill

    ….”documents dealing with the implementation of the nation’s primary surveillance law suggests that the government has been systematically violating the privacy rights of U.S. citizens.”
    – William Fisher

    ============

    It has. In quite unimaginable ways. (Thank you, again, Jill.)

    My first posting was technically correct, but do not want to distort Mr, Fisher’s words.

  13. posted by Jill

    “…the government has been systematically violating the privacy rights of U.S. citizens.” William Fisher

    ============

    It has. In quite unimaginable ways. (Thank you, Jill.)

  14. Why we need wikileaks: “Govt Forced to Release Docs on Spying Programme

    by William Fisher

    NEW YORK – Last week’s release of 900 pages of U.S. government documents dealing with the implementation of the nation’s primary surveillance law suggests that the government has been systematically violating the privacy rights of U.S. citizens.

    How many citizens is unclear, since the documents were extensively redacted. The previously secret internal documents were obtained through a court battle by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

    The government declined to disclose the number of citizens who had their telephone calls, e-mail, or other communications intercepted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act of 2008. They also declined to discuss any specific abuses, the ACLU said.” (from IPS)

  20. Bdaman:

    if we had transparent free markets the probability of external attacks due to financial disruptions would be minimized. It is hard to manipulate a stable, unencumbered market which is not centrally controlled and heavily in debt.

    It would seem that a mixed economy is also detrimental to national security.

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