The Foreign Service Journal, March 2007

M A R C H 2 0 0 7 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 11 unnoticed. Unlike many political ap- pointees, career diplomats like Crock- er do not have much of a constituency in Washington,” Kurlantzick con- cludes. But whenever the political appointees’ best-laid plans implode, they always know whom to call. — Susan Maitra, Senior Editor A Wikipedia for Whistleblowers The international movement for corporate and governmental trans- parency is about to get a powerful boost. Modeled after the do-it-your- self online encyclopedia, Wikileaks is designed to assist whistleblowers from “oppressive regimes in Asia, the for- mer Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East,” according to the Web site’s mission statement ( www. wikileaks.org ) . The site makes it possible for people from these regions, along with anyone else who wishes to expose perceived wrongdoing, to untraceably post government and other secret documents. The idea behind Wikileaks is to provide governmental transparency while protecting whistleblowers; the site is designed to be impervious to censorship from both legal and politi- cal quarters. A “wiki” system, as is used at Wikipedia , allows for online collaboration from all over the world. The site was created by a diverse group, including Chinese dissidents, mathematicians and technologists from start-up companies. At the time of this writing there are 22 volunteers on the Wikileaks team from the U.S., Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa. An advisory council for the site is comprised of Russian and Tibetan dissidents, reporters, cryptographers and a former U.S. intelligence analyst. The Wikileaks team’s mission of transparency has won supporters such as Kim Sawyer, associate professor at the University of Melbourne and vice president of Whistleblowers Australia. As she told the Jan. 20 Sydney Morning Herald , the Web site pro- vides an opportunity for stories to reach an international audience in a timely manner. Dr. Sawyer believes the anonymity of the site is one of its chief assets because whistleblower protection laws are, in her opinion, largely superficial. Wikileaks would provide a safe environment for would- be whistleblowers who fear legal or political retribution. Wikileaks also has its detractors. The same Herald article relays con- cerns over the sharing of “frivolous complaints,” whistleblowers inadver- tently putting themselves in danger, and the harmful disclosure of things such as national defense plans and strategies. Wikileaks expects to be operational by March. — E. Margaret MacFarland, Editorial Intern Whether Military or Civilian, Families Serve Too Frequent moves. Children who have spent more of their lives overseas than in the United States. A deployed spouse. Is this a State Department family or military family? The diplo- matic and the military sides of govern- ment service overseas each have their own challenges, but their organiza- tions share the critical need to provide support for service members and their families to cope with a peripatetic lifestyle. The State Department established the Family Liaison Office in 1978 to support FS families, and the office has developed an array of resources and C YBERNOTES W e, of course, appropriately and often recognize the sacrifices and valor of U.S. military personnel in Iraq, and rightly so. But we should not forget the dedication and determination and courage the members of the U.S. Foreign Service and civil servants have displayed in Iraq. State Department personnel are accustomed to hardship assignments, which are now becoming almost the norm in the world, and these mostly unarmed individuals are working hard in Iraq in the most dangerous of circumstances. My colleagues and I appreciate the U.S. Foreign Service and their families and the civil servants at the State Department for their unique efforts in Iraq and around the world. — Sen. Russell Feingold, D.-Wisc., Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Feb. 1, www.senate.gov .