US Ambassador Susan Rice declined to comment on the authenticity of the State Department cables released by Wikileaks yesterday that show American diplomats were directed to collect personal information like credit card numbers, passwords and even biometrics information from Security Council members and top UN officials such as Ban Ki Moon.
“Our diplomats are doing what diplomats do around the world every day, which is build relationships , negotiate, advance our interests and work to find common solutions to complex problems. Thats what they do. And they do it extremely well, with great integrity with hard work.” said Rice, “I’m not going to get in to commenting on classified material or alleged classified material and its contents . “
Rice was also unwilling to speak about the damage the cables might have on American diplomacy at the UN, and instead tried to highlight the Obama administration’s efforts at strengthening the US participation within the world body.”This has been a time when the United States, under president Obama’s leadership, has made enormous progress in repairing and rebuilding our relationships with partners and allies around the world.”
The Secretary General’s deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said the UN could not comment on the authenticity of the documents but noted that the organization relied on member states to adhere to the UN Charter, Headquarter Agreements and 1946 Convention that protect UN property and assets as inviolable.
Haq says the Secretary General was informed of contents of the cable by Ambassador Rice before they were released by Wikileaks yesterday and that the UN would further investigate the claims.”Certainly we will need further information on this and we will respond as appropriate. We will talk to our US counter parts at various level, but at this stage, I don’t have precise details” said Haq