WikiLeaks provokes DoD threat against whistleblowers

A front page story in today’s Washington Post looks at the growth and effects of the popular anonymous whistleblower website, WikiLeaks. Daniel Schmitt, a WikiLeaks director, told Post writer Joby Warrrick that, "The message of WikiLeaks to the controllers of information is this: You can either be transparent, or transparency will be brought to you."  Here, here.  I became concerned, though, when I read the quote from a 2008 U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) memo that proposes the "identification, exposure or termination of employment of or legal actions against current or former insiders, leakers or whistleblowers" as a tactic against WikiLeaks. It is distressing that DoD’s reaction would be knee-jerk retaliation.  They just don’t get the message.