What do you think of Assange and Wikileaks?

I want to clarify something for you; not anyone in the military can have access to any kind of document. There's, speaking from the perspective of someone going into the navy in june, 3 levels of security clearance: top-secret -> secret -> unclassified. If someone has access to only unclassified documents within the military then they can be charged for obtaining and releasing information above their level of security clearance. Court martials, dishonorable discharges, heavy fines and penalties, and even jail sentences.

But yes, there are many incompetant people in the nation, both in the common masses and in the leaders thereof. However, not everyone is ignorant to the world around then, nor oblivious to the things that go on. While we do have some very educated people in the nation, the one hindrance i see most prevalent and annoying is all the bureaucratic red-tape that only serves to slow down and complicate an otherwise simple process for something as stupid as getting a license to be able to own/operate a firearm.

I thought the order of document classification was: top-secret -> secret -> confidential -> unclassified. Regardless, the man who is suspected of leaking the information to wikileaks was not a highly ranked officer, or even an officer at all. In fact, he was a Private First Class. My understanding is that this a one of the lowest ranks in the military (only enlisted, not an officer or warrant officer). The officer, Bradley Manning, was only arrested on providing unauthorized use and disclosure of U.S. classified information. If this is indeed the case, he didn't go above his level of security clearance. It then follows that the information was already pretty freely available, if someone with his rank and his security clearance could access things that are so important that they are national threats.