The whistle blower website has warned that it plans to unleash its largest cache of documents tonight, a collection of U.S. government documents which would include cables sent by the State Department.
Some may contain sensitive material; others could include embarrassing information about foreign leaders, as they may contain candid remarks about heads of state.
"If any of the materials you intend to publish were provided by any government officials, or any intermediary without proper authorization, they were provided in violation of U.S. law and without regard for the grave consequences of this action," wrote Harold Hongju Koh, a legal advisor with the State Department. "As long as WikiLeaks holds such material, the violation of the law is ongoing."
The letter asks that WikiLeaks not release the documents, which is says would "place at risk the lives of countless innocent individuals," and "place at risk on-going military operations, including operations to stop terrorists, traffickers in human beings and illicit arms."
It also warns cooperation between countries could be jeopardized as they struggled "to confront common challenges from terrorism to pandemic diseases to nuclear proliferation that threaten global stability."The State Department refuses to work with WikiLeaks regarding the documents in order to remove sensitive information that could cost lives.
"We will not engage in a negotiation regarding the further release or dissemination of illegally obtained U.S. Government classified materials," Koh wrote in the letter.
Some 250,000 documents from the upcoming batch of files to be released by WikiLeaks have reportedly been made available to The New York Times, London's Guardian newspaper, as well as the German news magazine, Der Spiegel.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been making the rounds with foreign leaders to warn of the release. A State Department spokesman has said she had conversations with China, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Britain, France and Afghanistan on Friday. Canada, Denmark, Norway and Poland have also been warned.
The U.S. ambassador to Germany, Philip Murphy, told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that it will be difficult to predict the consequences of the leaked documents.
"It will be uncomfortable for my government, for those who are mentioned in our reports, and for me personally as U.S. ambassador to Germany," he said in an interview published Sunday.
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