Senator Bond, the Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, says whoever’s responsible for leaked documents concerning the war in Afghanistan betrayed their country, and may have put soldiers at risk.
More than 90,000 secret military documents were posted on the website wikileaks.org.
“Intelligence leaks are a dangerous signal to our allies and our enemies. Our potential sources can’t trust us, and too often we give away vital information,” Senator Bond said.
He quotes former CIA director Michael Hayden on the impact leaks have on military efforts.
“He said we’re only capturing the ‘dumb terrorists,’ which is a frightening thought,” Bond said.
There’s also controversy over some of the documents that suggested that Pakistan’s spy agency had links to the Taliban. Bond says they should be taken in context.
“If you get a lot of uncoordinated, unverified unconfirmed battlefield reports, it also may not paint a truly accurate picture of what’s going on,” Bond said.
Bond defers to the national security advisor, who says this could put troops and allies in harm’s way and threaten national security. He says the impact will become clearer as the documents are further scrutinized. Bond wants to know how the leak happened, and who’s responsible.
“That deserves investigation and if appropriate, prosecution. I really believe that’s the only way to stop leaks. Leaks are a great spectator sport, too many people seeking self gratification either they want to be heroes or they have a bone to pick with our government,” Bond said.
The White House has said much of the information in the documents was already public.
“But (wiki leaks says) they have more, and I hope we don’t see any seriously damaging leaks. Like the New York Times leak of the terrorist surveillance program,” Bond said.
Bond says there’s nothing the government can do to stop the documents from being published.
AUDIO: Ryan Famuliner reports [1min MP3]
