1 00:00:02,430 --> 00:00:05,596 It was the scoop of the century. 2 00:00:05,596 --> 00:00:09,828 WikiLeaks lifts the curtain on the secret communications between Washington 3 00:00:09,828 --> 00:00:13,662 and the diplomats that we have stationed all over the globe. 4 00:00:13,662 --> 00:00:22,644 I'm not aware of any release of information in human history comparable to the amount that was released via WikiLeaks. 5 00:00:22,644 --> 00:00:26,763 These were cables that show the super power's secret thought. 6 00:00:26,763 --> 00:00:32,931 It was hard for me to look Secretary Clinton in the eye when she was like, "How did this happen?" 7 00:00:32,931 --> 00:00:40,359 A quarter of a million US diplomatic messages apparently stolen by one of their own soldiers; 8 00:00:40,359 --> 00:00:47,460 turned into a global sensation by a whistle-blowing website and it's controversial founder, Julian Assange. 9 00:00:47,460 --> 00:00:49,960 I like crushing bastards. 10 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:58,378 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." 11 00:00:58,378 --> 00:01:01,810 In the first in-depth television analysis of the secret cables, 12 00:01:01,810 --> 00:01:09,310 we lift the lid on how the world's greatest super power does business and how it gets what it wants. 13 00:01:09,310 --> 00:01:13,761 We reveal a super power on a mission to change the world. 14 00:01:13,761 --> 00:01:18,577 But a super power that sometimes fails to live up to its own ideals. 15 00:01:18,577 --> 00:01:19,743 It's a complete outrage -- 16 00:01:19,743 --> 00:01:28,743 Diplomats stepping in to attempt to obstruct the course of the criminal investigation. 17 00:01:28,743 --> 00:01:33,759 Over a year has passed since the leaking of the cables. 18 00:01:33,759 --> 00:01:35,590 [Protests] 19 00:01:35,590 --> 00:01:41,773 Now we assess what the impact of the leak has been in the US and beyond. 20 00:01:41,773 --> 00:01:46,489 And we ask, can American Diplomacy ever be the same again? 21 00:01:46,489 --> 00:01:48,075 They don't trust you anymore. 22 00:01:48,075 --> 00:01:53,592 Many of them don't, and it will take a long time, I think, to recover that trust. 23 00:01:57,614 --> 00:02:00,302 [WIKILEAKS: The Secret Life of A Superpower] 24 00:02:07,717 --> 00:02:11,774 It's late November 2010. 25 00:02:11,774 --> 00:02:16,325 Two journalists arrive at the US State Department in Washington DC -- 26 00:02:16,325 --> 00:02:22,774 The enormous ministry that controls America's relationship with the rest of the world. 27 00:02:22,774 --> 00:02:25,408 They're not here for a friendly chat. 28 00:02:25,408 --> 00:02:30,926 They're about to blow the lid on America's diplomatic secrets. 29 00:02:30,926 --> 00:02:34,408 They were maybe a dozen senior officials and, behind them, 30 00:02:34,408 --> 00:02:38,707 you know, at least a dozen more minions taking notes on laptops and so on. 31 00:02:38,707 --> 00:02:41,108 They represented not just the State Department 32 00:02:41,108 --> 00:02:45,442 but all of the intelligence agencies and the defense department. 33 00:02:45,442 --> 00:02:47,159 They did not look happy. 34 00:02:50,727 --> 00:02:54,974 The US State Department was facing a crisis unlike any other. 35 00:02:54,974 --> 00:03:02,127 A quarter of a million internal messages or cables between Washington and US embassies all over the world 36 00:03:02,127 --> 00:03:06,775 had found their way into the hands of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks 37 00:03:06,775 --> 00:03:10,977 and, from there, to five major newspapers. 38 00:03:10,977 --> 00:03:23,041 Their message at the opening of the meeting, in uncertain terms, was "You've been given stolen material -- classified material. 39 00:03:23,041 --> 00:03:26,969 There would be grave consequences if you publish any of it." 40 00:03:32,836 --> 00:03:39,505 At that meeting, one of the people leading the state department's response to the crisis was P.J. Crowley. 41 00:03:39,505 --> 00:03:43,487 These stories resulted from a crime. 42 00:03:43,487 --> 00:03:45,719 For us, this was still classified material. 43 00:03:45,719 --> 00:03:49,269 It was our responsibility to, you know, continue to protect them. 44 00:03:52,553 --> 00:03:57,753 The State Department was right to be worried. 45 00:03:57,753 --> 00:04:02,887 The cables reveal what American diplomats say when they think the world will never know -- 46 00:04:02,887 --> 00:04:04,786 Who they trust and who they mock, 47 00:04:04,786 --> 00:04:06,995 what they want and how they get it. 48 00:04:10,478 --> 00:04:15,245 "Some inside the US government dismiss [Berlusconi] as feckless, vain, and ineffective as a modern European leader." 49 00:04:15,245 --> 00:04:17,478 "Merkel is risk averse and rarely creative." 50 00:04:17,478 --> 00:04:24,815 "Gaddafi relies heavily on his long-time Ukranian nurse, who has been described as a 'voluptuous blonde." 51 00:04:24,815 --> 00:04:30,632 Detailed records from thousands of secret meetings and conversations involving US diplomats 52 00:04:30,632 --> 00:04:33,850 were about to become a media sensation. 53 00:04:33,850 --> 00:04:39,732 "Bank of England Governor Mervyn King expressed great concern about Conservative leaders' lack of experience." 54 00:04:39,732 --> 00:04:47,632 "It was related that King Abdullah remains a heavy smoker, regularly receives hormone injections, and 'uses Viagra excessively." 55 00:04:47,632 --> 00:04:55,683 Here were records of American diplomats' secret plans and strategies, their uncertainties and fears. 56 00:04:55,683 --> 00:04:59,683 "We should aim at influencing the narrow group of individuals that surround him."