WIKILEAKS TO TARGET MEXICO, NARCOTICS

WikiLeaks, a whistleblowing online site, obtained 2,836 U.S. documents
related to Mexico and 8,324 documents related to narcotics -- both
areas of great interest to the border region.

However, the public will have to wait to learn what most of those
cables contain because WikiLeaks does not plan to release all 251,287
of its leaked documents at once.

The site is coordinating the release of documents, mostly U.S.
diplomatic cables, with selected major U.S. and international media
partners. As of Monday, only 272 cables had been released.

The first leaked documents about drugs alleges that a relative of a
high-level Afghanistan official was suspected of having links with
drug lords who are involved in the opium trade, and the U.S.
government ignored the information to avoid disrupting its relations
with the Afghan government.

Another cable that mentions narcotics alleges that Brazil's federal
police, acting on U.S. tips, arrested suspected terrorists but charged
them with drug-related crimes to deflect attention from
counterterrorist operations.

The Brazilian government has denied this, according to
WikiLeaks.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a news conference
Monday in Washington that she would not comment on the contents of the
leaked documents.

"There have been examples in history in which official conduct has
been made public in the name of exposing wrongdoing or misconduct,"
Clinton said. "This is not one of those cases. In contrast, what is
being put on display in this cache of documents is the fact that
American diplomats are doing the work we expect them to do. They are
helping identify and prevent conflicts before they start.

"The work of our diplomats doesn't just benefit Americans, but also
billions of others around the globe. In addition to endangering
particular individuals, disclosures like these tear at the fabric of
the proper function of responsible government."

Several experts believe the leaked documents will not necessarily
endanger anyone.

Bill Weaver, a UTEP professor and former adviser to the National
Security Whistleblowers Coalition, and Keith Yearman, a College of
DuPage professor in Glen Ellyn, Ill., said the documents released so
far are not too different from what the public can obtain through the
Freedom of Information Act.

The main difference is that while many of the WikiLeaks documents are
recent, it often takes decades for the U.S. government to declassify
and disclose its diplomatic cables.

"The issue is over whether WikiLeaks is a responsible whistleblowing
outfit is a legitimate concern," said Weaver, a former intelligence
analyst. "But, the documents are not particularly sensitive or
anything that jeopardizes sources or methods. For example, they don't
come from the National Security Agency.

"It is also well known that the government tends to overclassify
documents. The main value of the documents will be for academics and
historians."

Most of the disclosures -- candid comments by diplomats about heads of
office in other countries -- have been of an embarrassing nature.

Yearman, whose research areas include Latin America and Africa,
brought students to the border for field research before the drug
violence erupted.

"The amount of material that has come out is staggering," Yearman
said. "Typically, the State Department releases very few documents and
they are highly censored. To have something very current represents a
gold mine for researchers. You get to see the political mindset and
behind-the-scenes strategies of governments."

Yearman said he disagrees with critics who condemned publishing the
leaked documents.

"It the ultimate form of government transparency, and I am for honest
and open government," he said.

Details online

WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange was a featured panelist for the
Logan Symposium on Investigative Journalism in April at the University
of California at Berkeley. He explains the process for the recent
releases at http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/