Cables Off Limits to Gov't Workers

Not even Kafka could have dreamt up this degree of bureaucratic inanity. Though they are easily downloadable online to any human on the planet with a computer and an Internet connection, employees and contractors of the U.S. federal government have been prohibited from possessing or reading the diplomatic cables WikiLeaks has been publishing, according to a memo sent out by the Office of Management and Budget Friday afternoon. “Classified information, whether or not already posted on public websites or disclosed to the media, remains classified, and must be treated as such by federal employees and contractors,” said the document, which orders anyone without the proper security clearance to avert their proverbial eyes from the leaked documents. Employees who have already “accidentally” downloaded the files are urged to notify their “information security offices” immediately. WikiLeaks has been publicly mocking this and other government efforts to limit access to the documents, calling them “Digital McCarthyism.”