1 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It was the scoop of the century. 2 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 WikiLeaks lifts the curtain on the secret communications between Washington and the diplomats that we have stationed all over the globe. 3 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I'm not aware of any release of information in human history comparable to the amount that was released via WikiLeaks. 4 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 These were cables that show the super power secret thought. 5 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It was hard for me to look Secretary Clinton in the eye when she's like, "How did this happen?" 6 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 A quarter of a million US diplomatic messages apparently stolen by one of their own soldiers. 7 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Turned into a global sensation by a whistle-blowing website and it's controversial founder, Julian Assange. 8 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I like crushing bastards. 9 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think every diplomat around the world would have one overwriting thought, "Thank God! It wasn't me," and "Thank God! It's not us." 10 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 In the first in-depth television analysis of the secret cables, we lift the lid on how the world's greatest super power does business and how it gets what it wants. 11 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We reveal the super power on a mission to change the world. 12 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But a super that sometimes fails to live up to its own ideals. 13 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's a complete outrage. Diplomats stepping in to attempt to obstruct the course of the criminal investigation. 14 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Over a year has passed since the leaking of the cables. 15 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Now we assess what the impact of the leak has been in the US and beyond. 16 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And we ask, can American Diplomacy ever be the same again. 17 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They don't trust you anymore. 18 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Many of them don't, and it will take a long time, I think, to recover that trust. 19 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's late November 2010. 20 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Two journalists arrive at the US State Department in Washington DC. 21 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The enormous ministry that controls America's relationship with the rest of the world. 22 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They're not here for a friendly chat. 23 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They're about to blow the lid on America's diplomatic secrets. 24 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They were maybe a dozen senior officials and, behind them, you know, at least a dozen more minions taking notes on laptops and so on. 25 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They represented not just the State Department but all of the intelligence agencies and the defense department. 26 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They did not look happy. 27 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The US State Department was facing a crisis unlike any other. 28 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 A quarter of a million internal messages or cables between Washington and US embassies all over the world 29 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 had found their way into the hands of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks and, from there, to five major newspapers. 30 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Their message at the opening of the meeting in uncertain terms, was "You've been given stolen material -- classified material." 31 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "There would be grave consequences if you publish any of it." 32 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 At that meeting, one of the people leading the state department's response to the crisis was P.J. Crowley. 33 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 These stories resulted from a crime. 34 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 For us, this was still classified material. 35 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It was our responsibility to continue to protect them. 36 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The State Department was right to be worried. 37 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The cables reveal what American diplomats say when they think the world will never know... 38 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Who they trust and who they mock, what they want and how they get it. 39 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "Some inside the US government dismiss [Berlusconi] as a feckless, vain, and ineffective as a modern European leader." 40 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "Merkel is risk averse and rarely creative." 41 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Gaddafi relies heavily on his long-time Ukranian nurse, who has been described as a voluptuous blonde." 42 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Detailed records from thousands of secret meetings and conversations involving US diplomats 43 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 were about to become a media sensation. 44 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "Bank of England Governor Mervyn King espressed great concern about Conservative leaders' lack of experience." 45 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "It was related that King Abdullah remains a heavy smoker, regularly receives hormone injections, and "uses Viagra excessively." 46 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Here were records of American diplomats' secret plans and strategies, their uncertainties and fears. 47 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "We should aim at influencing the narrow group of individuals that surround him."