The Foreign Service Journal, March 2011

M A R C H 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 17 public disclosure. Perhaps the above line of reasoning might persuade some that diplomatic consultations deserve a certain amount of privacy for a certain period of time. Charles O. Cecil U.S. ambassador, retired Alexandria, Va. How Embassy Buenos Aires Handled the Fallout On day one, the chargé d’affaires here in Buenos Aires said, “We have two bad choices: try to run and hide or go out and take a beating.” His deci- sion was to engage with the press and defend diplomacy—with a dose of hu- mility. In Argentina, where the negative views of the U.S. far outweigh the pos- itive, many people wanted to see the “superpower” on its knees. Given our embarrassment at being unable to pro- tect our contacts, and facing full expo- sure of controversial embassy assess- ments of the government, it wasn’t hard to be humble. The Spanish newspaper El Pais began its coverage of the WikiLeaks story with cables focusing on criticism of Argentine President Cristina Kirch- ner’s government reported by our em- S P E A K I N G O U T The cost of these alleged leaks to U.S. diplomacy should not be overstated, but it is significant.