Comment: Diplomats must engage in frank discussions with their colleagues

President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have made it a priority to reinvigorate America’s relationships around the world. They have been working hard to strengthen our existing partnerships and build new ones to meet shared challenges, from climate change to ending the threat of nuclear weapons to fighting disease and poverty. As the United States Ambassador to Maldives, I’m proud to be part of this effort.

Under the leadership of President Obama, we have greatly expanded our engagement in Maldives. We have strengthened our security cooperation, and we have broadened our mutual efforts on climate change (including $3.5 million from our development agency, USAID). As a sign of this growing friendship, Farah Pandith, the first ever US Special Representative to Muslim Communities, visited the Maldives just last week, where she met ordinary citizens and government officials.

In the past few days, documents purportedly downloaded from US Defence Department computers have become the subject of reports in the media. I cannot vouch for the authenticity of any one of these documents. But I can say that the United States would deeply regret the disclosure of any information that was intended to be confidential. And we condemn it.

Diplomats must engage in frank discussions with their colleagues, and they must be assured that these discussions will remain private. Honest dialogue—within governments and between them—is part of the basic bargain of international relations; we couldn’t maintain peace, security, and international stability without it.

People of good faith will recognise that diplomats’ internal reports do not represent a government’s official foreign policy. In the United States, they are one element out of many that shape our policies, which are ultimately set by the President and the Secretary of State. And those policies are a matter of public record, the subject of thousands of pages of speeches, statements, white papers, and other documents that the State Department makes freely available online and elsewhere.

But relations between governments aren’t the only concern. US diplomats meet with local human rights workers, journalists, religious leaders, and others outside the government who offer their own candid insights. These conversations depend on trust and confidence as well. In some countries, if an anti-corruption activist shares information about official misconduct, or a social worker passes along documentation of sexual violence, revealing that person’s identity could have serious repercussions: imprisonment, torture, even death.

The owners of the WikiLeaks website claim to possess some 250,000 classified documents, many of which have been released to the media. Whatever their motives are in publishing these documents, it is clear that releasing them poses real risks to real people, and often to particular people who have dedicated their lives to protecting others. We support and are willing to have genuine debates about pressing questions of public policy. But releasing documents carelessly and without regard for the consequences is not the way to start such a debate.

For our part, the US government is committed to maintaining the security of our diplomatic communications and is taking steps to make sure they are kept in confidence. We are moving aggressively to make sure this kind of breach does not happen again. And we will continue to work to strengthen our partnership with the Maldives and make progress on the issues that are important for our two countries. We can’t afford anything less. I am in close contact with President Nasheed to make sure we continue to focus on the issues and tasks at hand. President Obama, Secretary Clinton, and I remain committed to being trusted partners as we seek to build a better, more prosperous world for everyone.

Patricia A Butenis is the US Ambassador to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Republic of Maldives.

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4 thoughts on “Comment: Diplomats must engage in frank discussions with their colleagues”

  1. what a load of c#@$% ?

    Who buys this two faced adulation and the holier-than-thou chords of global solidarity under this, a banner of declining American imperialism.

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  2. "People of good faith will recognise that diplomats’ internal reports do not represent a government’s official foreign policy. In the United States, they are one element out of many that shape our policies, which are ultimately set by the President and the Secretary of State".

    Usually the policies that have public records are products to buy votes in contemporary politics. The hidden motives are some what contrary. These so called internal reports of diplomats must be interesting.
    "Bargain of international relations". Nice phrasing.

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  3. "Whatever their motives are in publishing these documents, it is clear that releasing them poses real risks to real people..."

    Agree with u. It sure will be a huge blow for liars like Dr. Shaheed who would probably come up with even a bigger bunch of lies in the days ahead hoping to fool the Maldivian people. The leak answers important questions about America's intentions in "helping" third-world countries.

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  4. Patricia A Butenis the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives is trying to be FUNNY! by stating "Diplomats must engage in frank discussions with their colleagues"!!! You want us to be "FRANK"?? hear this out please!
    1. Your unconditional support (both financially and otherwise) and blindness to zionist state of Israel and its brutality from US tax payers money is a mockery to International peace and US citizens!
    2. US government blindness to Dictatorial regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt and financial and military support is yet another joke among many diplomatic circles!
    3. US government human right track record (which is not published) including its covert operations in Iraq, Afganistan and other so called rough states and then accusing other states of human rights violations!
    4. US government failing to engage any dialogue with other civilisation, but rather show its military might to deter from any mutual understanding and collobration of western civilisation with other civilisation such as Chinese and Islam!
    I believe strongly the founding fathers of United Stats of America were morally sound and clean statesmen who would be ashamed to see the current politicians who work (even after murdering nations in blood) for their respective strong multinationals business groups who are drinking bloods of US citizens and of least developed nations!
    Current Middle east conflict nothing more than Oil money...nothing to do with religion!

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