On 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks began publishing classified U.S. State Department diplomatic cables describing confidential dealings between Washington and its missions worldwide, including Australian policy discussions. The material included Kevin Rudd’s March 2009 advice to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the United States should be prepared to use force against China if relations deteriorated, as well as disclosures about Australia’s Afghanistan assessments, Torres Strait negotiations, and Senator Mark Arbib’s reported role as a protected confidential contact for the U.S. Embassy in Canberra.
The publication later escalated from scheduled, partially redacted releases to an unredacted dump. The Guardian had printed the passphrase to a symmetrically encrypted GPG file as a chapter title in a book, believing the file was no longer accessible; the encrypted archive nevertheless remained online. WikiLeaks then published the complete collection, exposing sensitive diplomatic correspondence and potentially identifying sources. The episode demonstrated a serious operational-security failure in the handling of classified material and encrypted archives, although the supplied record identifies no resulting conviction, fine, or formal regulatory sanction.
