Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

Re “A Note to Readers: The Decision to Publish Diplomatic Documents” (Nov. 29):

You seem to believe that disclosing diplomatic conversations will not have a dangerous chilling effect on the diplomats’ work. But are you willing to have your internal editorial discussions published? To have others decide what will and what won’t compromise your news-gathering methods? Would that not chill your ability to work?

We’ll know the answers when WikiLeaks publishes a trove of secret New York Times documents.

Ilya Shlyakhter
Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 29, 2010