More revelations certainly await as the world combs through the more than 250,000 US diplomatic cables released Sunday by WikiLeaks, but already it is clear that the US is facing a monumental embarrassment and has vital questions to resolve about its trustworthiness and data security.

For all the State Department's understandable security concern about the recent disclosure of classified telegrams from its embassies by WikiLeaks, there are elements in this exposé that can actually improve how Americans and the rest of the world view US diplomacy and, most important, the United States itself.

So we have another WikiLeaks release, and this time it's secret diplomatic cables. So far the interesting material is on Arab states' and America's relationships with Iran. It seems all those fervid background-only reports of Arab states urging America to bomb Iran, which I mistrusted at the time, were true.

The secret diplomatic cables revealed by WikiLeaks have the potential to annoy governments around the world, and to inform (and even titillate) the rest of us. But are such leaks useful to the public, and do they bring real freedom of information any closer?

The whistleblower’s latest document dump exposes Saudi Arabia’s plot against Iran, a corrupt Afghan’s $52 million payday, Putin and Berlusconi’s “bromance,” and more. See nine of the most startling details.

Except, I have yet to see anything in the reporting on these documents that show's the U.S. government engaged in any behavior that would upset the great mass of the American public. In a statement to the press today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made this same point, rather directly.

Public diplomacy -- defined by the State Department as "engaging, informing, and influencing key international audiences" -- has become increasingly passé among American officials, scholars, and NGOS as a term and activity used to define how America should communicate with the outside world.

Community and business leaders gathered in Washington this week to promote "citizen diplomacy," the process of boosting international understanding through direct contact between citizens of different countries.