US condemns alleged WikiLeaks disclosures

President Obama and State Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton have made it a priority to reinvigorate America's relationships around the world. They have been working hard to strengthen US's partnerships and build new ones to meet shared challenges, from climate change to ending the threat of nuclear weapons to fighting disease and poverty, United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka Patricia A Butenis said issuing a press release.

The United States has worked hard to assist the Sri Lankan government and people to strengthen security, to further economic development, and to foster political reconciliation. The US collaborated with the government to bring business leaders delegation here to increase trade between two nations. The development agency, USAID, has partnered with local companies to train the people in former conflict zones new skills to enable them to re-establish their lives. The US handed over the first installment of a $1.5 million donation to the Army's Humanitarian Demining Unit. Since 2009, the US government has contributed $180 million to help Sri Lanka.

"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 the United States would regret the disclosure of any information that was intended to be confidential and we condemn it," the Ambassador said.

The release said owners of the WikiLeaks website claim to possess some 250,000 classified documents, many of which have been released to the media. It is clear that releasing them poses risks to the people who have dedicated their lives to protect others. The US is willing to have genuine debates about pressing questions of the public policy. But releasing documents carelessly and without regard for the consequences is not the way to start such a debate.