US national security facilities list revealed
WikiLeaks has been criticised by the US and British governments after it released a list of strategic facilities around the world that are considered to be of paramount national security by the US.
US officials in every country of the world were allegedly asked to report what they reckon are key resources and facilities whose loss will impact America's stability, according to the leak.
The document identifies three criteria for the assessment of a strategic infrastructure or facility: what is defined as “direct physical linkages” such as pipelines or communication cables, “sourced goods and services” – producers of minerals, chemicals or other products – and “critical supply chain nodes”, such as harbours and canals.
China is one of the countries that, according to the cable, has more facilities considered as being vital to US security. These include several undersea cable landings around the country, hydroelectric dam turbines and, of course, the ports in the southern regions: Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Ningbo and Tianjin.
In the UK, key facilities are listed throughout the country, from the Hibernia Atlantic undersea station in Cornwall to the Scottish region of Lothian, which is reported as “critical to the Ship Submersible Nuclear (SSN)”.
Presont, Lancashire, Plymouth and Chorley are listed as strategic defence landmarks.
A high number of pharmaceutical facilities is mentioned as well, many of which are in Europe. Octapharma Pharmazeutika in Vienna, Austria, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA in Wavre, Belgium, the Acellular Pertussis Vaccine Component Port of Antwerp, Denmark, and Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, are all listed in the leaked report.
Apart from communication junctions, defence facilities and chemicals producers, the US also lists several mines, many in African countries. Congo is on the list for its cobalt mine, Guinea for its bauxite mine, and South Africa for its extraction of chromite, palladium and rhodium.
Asked about the recent release, a spokesperson for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We condemn any unauthorised release of this classified information, just as we condemn leaks of classified material in the UK. They can damage national security.”
The cable is classified as NOFORN – not for non-US nationals – and “not for internet distribution” and contains a series of “critical infrastructure and key resources located abroad”, reads the leak.
Filed in 2009, the US state department and the department of Homeland Security asked its officials based in all the countries of the world to name the facilities that are considered to be of paramount importance for its national security, as part of an overall scheme called National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP).
“The National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) was written to provide the unifying structure for the integration of critical infrastructure and key resources [abbreviated as CI/KR] protection into a single program,” reads the leak.
“The goal of the NIPP is to build a safer, more secure and more resilient America”, reads the cable, “and to prevent, deter, neutralise or mitigate the effects of deliberate efforts by terrorists [to attack the facilities]”.
US secretary of state spokesman Philip Crowley told The Times: “There are strong and valid reasons [why] information is classified.
“Julian Assange may be directing his efforts at the United States but he is placing the interests of many countries and regions at risk.”
Over the weekend, WikiLeaks has released more cables which show, among other revelations, that Qatar has allegedly warned Egypt to cease Al-Jazeera's transmissions in the country, if Egypt were to agree to, or publicly support, a long-term settlement for the Palestinian situation.
(Read the full article on The Fresh Outlook)
This piece is from a bunch of old articles published on The Fresh Outlook, dated November 2010, that had not been posted here yet.
US officials in every country of the world were allegedly asked to report what they reckon are key resources and facilities whose loss will impact America's stability, according to the leak.
The document identifies three criteria for the assessment of a strategic infrastructure or facility: what is defined as “direct physical linkages” such as pipelines or communication cables, “sourced goods and services” – producers of minerals, chemicals or other products – and “critical supply chain nodes”, such as harbours and canals.
China is one of the countries that, according to the cable, has more facilities considered as being vital to US security. These include several undersea cable landings around the country, hydroelectric dam turbines and, of course, the ports in the southern regions: Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Ningbo and Tianjin.
In the UK, key facilities are listed throughout the country, from the Hibernia Atlantic undersea station in Cornwall to the Scottish region of Lothian, which is reported as “critical to the Ship Submersible Nuclear (SSN)”.
Presont, Lancashire, Plymouth and Chorley are listed as strategic defence landmarks.
A high number of pharmaceutical facilities is mentioned as well, many of which are in Europe. Octapharma Pharmazeutika in Vienna, Austria, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA in Wavre, Belgium, the Acellular Pertussis Vaccine Component Port of Antwerp, Denmark, and Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, are all listed in the leaked report.
Apart from communication junctions, defence facilities and chemicals producers, the US also lists several mines, many in African countries. Congo is on the list for its cobalt mine, Guinea for its bauxite mine, and South Africa for its extraction of chromite, palladium and rhodium.
Asked about the recent release, a spokesperson for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We condemn any unauthorised release of this classified information, just as we condemn leaks of classified material in the UK. They can damage national security.”
The cable is classified as NOFORN – not for non-US nationals – and “not for internet distribution” and contains a series of “critical infrastructure and key resources located abroad”, reads the leak.
Filed in 2009, the US state department and the department of Homeland Security asked its officials based in all the countries of the world to name the facilities that are considered to be of paramount importance for its national security, as part of an overall scheme called National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP).
“The National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) was written to provide the unifying structure for the integration of critical infrastructure and key resources [abbreviated as CI/KR] protection into a single program,” reads the leak.
“The goal of the NIPP is to build a safer, more secure and more resilient America”, reads the cable, “and to prevent, deter, neutralise or mitigate the effects of deliberate efforts by terrorists [to attack the facilities]”.
US secretary of state spokesman Philip Crowley told The Times: “There are strong and valid reasons [why] information is classified.
“Julian Assange may be directing his efforts at the United States but he is placing the interests of many countries and regions at risk.”
Over the weekend, WikiLeaks has released more cables which show, among other revelations, that Qatar has allegedly warned Egypt to cease Al-Jazeera's transmissions in the country, if Egypt were to agree to, or publicly support, a long-term settlement for the Palestinian situation.
(Read the full article on The Fresh Outlook)
This piece is from a bunch of old articles published on The Fresh Outlook, dated November 2010, that had not been posted here yet.