US to protect dissidents after WikiLeaks fall-out

THE Obama administration says it is taking steps to protect or relocate dissidents and human rights activists whose lives may be placed at risk by their disclosure in leaked US diplomatic documents.

State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said that American embassies had been told to warn foreign sources of compromising information contained in the cables and offer them assistance. Crowley said he was not aware that anyone had yet asked for help, but said the US was “prepared to help protect people if necessary,” including with relocation.

US officials say countless lives, particularly of government critics in authoritarian nations, have been endangered by the release of the documents by the WikiLeaks website.