Wikileaks releases list of ‘vital’ US sites

WikiLeaks has divulged a secret list compiled by Washington of key infrastructure sites around the world that could pose a critical danger to U.S. security if they come under terrorist attack.

The newly revealed diplomatic cable is one of the most explosive yet out of many leaked by the whistle-blowing website in ongoing releases that have heaped embarrassment on Washington and caused anger around the world.

A State Department cable from February 2009 asked U.S. missions to update a list of infrastructure and key resources worldwide whose loss “could critically impact” the country’s public health, economic life and national security.

It details undersea cables, key communications, ports, mineral resources and firms of strategic importance in countries ranging from Britain to New Zealand and including nations in Africa and the Middle East, as well as China.

In Turkey, a handful of Turkish companies – Durma, Baykal and Ermaksan – are listed alongside Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline as critically important. All three firms are in the mechanical sector and produce industrial machines. Diplomatic sources in Turkey declined to comment on the issue to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review and sources from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that they do not make statements, on principle, on WikiLeaks releases.

The 1,768-kilometer Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline transports crude oil from offshore oil fields in the Caspian Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean coast, from where the crude is shipped via tankers to European markets.

The newly leaked documents describe a Canadian hydroelectric plant as a “critical irreplaceable source of power to portions of [the] Northeast U.S.,” while a Siemens factory in Germany is said to carry out “essentially irreplaceable production of key chemicals.”

Also listed are European manufacturers of vaccines for smallpox and rabies, an Italian maker of treatment for snake-bite venom, and a German company producing treatment for plutonium poisoning. In Russia, the Nadym Gas Pipeline Junction is described as the most critical gas facility in the world.

According to the diplomatic cable, the request to update the list was designed “to strengthen national preparedness, timely response and rapid recovery in the event of an attack, natural disaster or other emergency.”

Compilation of the list would help “prevent, deter, neutralize or mitigate the effects of deliberate efforts by terrorists to destroy, incapacitate or exploit” sites deemed of “vital” importance to the United States.

Britain was quick to condemn release of the list as “damaging to national security.” The cable includes the British locations of undersea cables, satellite systems and defense plants. “We unequivocally condemn the unauthorized release of classified information,” a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron’s Downing Street office said Monday.

The release will add to the political storm engulfing WikiLeaks and its 39-year-old founder, Julian Assange, who broke cover Friday to say in an online chat that he had boosted his security after receiving death threats.

The website is already battling to secure its avenues for financial donations online, and has been hop-scotching across servers and legal jurisdictions to evade a total shutdown. Facing repeated cyber-attacks, WikiLeaks has moved to ensure its information remains available, with mirror websites replicating its data springing up on servers in various countries.

AFP

Posted by Editor on Dec 6 2010 Filed under Headlines, Intel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.