(CNN) -- More than 250,000 secret U.S. diplomatic cables are now available in full and unfiltered online, exposing scores of U.S. diplomatic sources and informants that were meant to be protected often for their own safety, according to the website WikiLeaks. But this is not an official WikiLeaks release. Rather, what appears to be a string of errors has lead to both the raw file and the password that unlocks that file to be released into the public domain, without WikiLeaks control. In a statement posted on Twitter, WikiLeaks said, "Guardian investigations editor, David Leigh, recklessly, and without gaining our approval, knowingly disclosed the decryption passwords in a book published by the Guardian."
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NEW: The State Department says it was notified of the problem
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Thousands of secret U.S. cables are now online
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WikiLeaks blames the writer of a book on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
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"Nonsense," say the writer and his publisher
Julian Assange
In it, he describes in detail how WikiLeaks editor @placeholder gave him the password to unlock the massive archive of diplomatic cables.
State Department
According to the statement, WikiLeaks personnel spoke for 75 minutes with a @placeholder legal advisor by phone, in the hope that the U.S. government would be able to warn any sources that may be put in danger by the now-public cables.
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In an earlier Twitter posting, @placeholder said: "There has been no 'leak at WikiLeaks'.
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In an earlier Twitter posting, WikiLeaks said: "There has been no 'leak at @placeholder'.