Irish locations included in list of key US facilities released by WikiLeaks

WIKILEAKS HAS RELEASED US government cables containing a list of international locations considered vital to US national security.

The BBC reports that over a year ago, the US State Department asked all US missions based abroad to compile a list of installations whose loss could impact upon US national security.

The list identifies two Irish locations:

• The Hibernia Atlantic undersea cable landing in Dublin
• Genzyme Ireland Ltd in Waterford

The Genzyme biotech plant in Waterford produces ‘thymoglobulin’, which is used by kidney transplant patients. The company’s headquarters are based in the US.

The Hibernia Atlantic cable is a transatlantic submarine communications system linking North America with Ireland, the UK and Europe.

The list includes a number of mines in Africa, an oil pipeline in Georgia, an anti-rabies drug production company in France and a range of communications lines and undersea cable landing points.

The US cable says that the list was being compiled to help “build a safer, more secure, and more resilient America by enhancing protection of the nation’s CI/KR [critical infrastructure/key resources] to prevent, deter, neutralize or mitigate the effects of deliberate efforts by terrorists to destroy, incapacitate or exploit them; and to strengthen national preparedness, timely response, and rapid recovery in the event of an attack, natural disaster or other emergency”.

Former British defence secretary Malcolm Rifkind criticised WikiLeaks for releasing the list, saying it was further evidence the organisation was “generally irresponsible, bordering on criminal”, according to the AFP.