In 2010, WikiLeaks provided The Guardian with encrypted, unredacted files containing the names of informants and other sensitive material connected to the Afghan War logs and related disclosures. David Leigh’s book, published by Guardian Books in February 2011, printed the passphrase used to protect those files. The password was later combined with the encrypted archive and circulated publicly, making the unredacted material accessible and creating a direct security failure around the handling of classified data.
The consequences remain disputed. Critics claimed that exposing informants may have put them at risk, and some accounts alleged that deaths followed, but the supplied source does not establish those deaths or a direct causal link. The Guardian said the password was temporary and argued that WikiLeaks had roughly seven months to secure or replace the files before publishing the unredacted archive itself. The episode also produced competing accounts of Julian Assange’s alleged refusal to redact Afghan informants’ names: journalist Declan Walsh was quoted as describing a callous remark, while Der Spiegel journalist John Goetz disputed that account in an affidavit. The controversy illustrates failures by both the publisher and disclosure platform to control sensitive source data.
