Imagine this scenario: an American government official commits treason and hands over hundreds of thousands of documents categorized above “classified” to the Iranian government. What would the appropriate response be?

A mere condemnation of the act would certainly be criticized as a weak response, and rightly. Such a severe national security breach would justify a stronger response.

Why, then, is the Obama administration not responding more strongly to the illegal WikiLeaks documents leaks?

WikiLeaks, a wiki for secret information, has recently dumped three massive document caches online. This week, the site has released hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables. This latest release is fresh on the heels of nearly half a million documents related to the Iraq and Afghan wars.

The government classifies information for a reason. Do we want Iran knowing our negotiation strategy regarding their nuclear program? Would it be reasonable for China to know the operational structure of the US Pacific Command? Does it make sense for the Taliban to know the details of our counter-insurgency strategy?

For US foreign policy to function, in other words, some information cannot be made public. We cannot have groups like WikiLeaks publishing information whenever they feel like it. WikiLeaks is not looking out for the best interests of the United States.

The Obama administration cannot let WikiLeaks get away with these damaging disclosures. Thus far, however, the response has been weak.

You could practically see the president’s blood boil as he noted that he was“concerned” by the releases; his top national security adviser, James Jones, went even further, stating that he finds the leaks “irresponsible.” If a firm stand is not taken now, it will set a precedent for future leakers and our foreign relations could be harmed further.

WikiLeaks is not a foreign country. We cannot call in cruise missiles against Julian Assange, the shadowy founder of the group. What we can do is launch a cyber-attack to take down WikiLeaks.

I’m no lawyer and cannot judge the legality of this action. The CIA, however, would seem well-positioned to carry out this action. The CIA carries out clandestine actions and seems to have no problem “covertly” dropping a couple tons of TNT into Northwest Pakistan every other day.

We have the capability to do it effectively. The Stuxnet worm, widely believed to have been created by Israel, has recently inflicted substantial damage on Iranian nuclear facilities. If Israel, whose defense budget is 1/45 of ours, can hit Iran’s crown jewels, the United States can take down a single privately-funded website.

I could be sympathetic to the concern that this could set a precedent that could lead to a militarization of the Internet. The United States, as far as the public knows, has never used our cyber capabilities offensively. Nevertheless, as long as the tactic is used sparingly, I believe it could be an effective tool in the American arsenal.

Additionally, China is known to have launched multiple cyber attacks against our government infrastructure. Despite this, the web has not turned into a battleground. Nothing suggests that one attack by Washington would lead to a cyber World War III.

And after all, if WikiLeaks were a country, we’d be starting up our aircraft carriers. In comparison, what’s the worst that can come of a cyber attack on http://www.wikileaks.org/?