More information (including the actual maps) is at http://www.floatingsheep.org/ One of the most interesting, and perhaps controversial, bits of information from the recent release of the Wikileaks US embassy cables has been the list of locations deemed vital to US security. Since this information is now in the public domain, we were interested in visualizing the data. The first step was to take the rather messy data and identify individual entries. In some cases it was no more specific then "Indonesia: Tin Mine and Plant", it other cases it named a pipeline, a port or city in which an undersea cable made landfall. Using the worldatlas.com geocoder (as well as some Wikipedia entries), we located an approximate latitude and longitude for each of the locations mentioned in the cables. We wish to emphasize that the locations in our mashup are only for the cities in which these critical facilities are located, and not the actual facilities themselves. In some cases the location in the map is no more detailed then the country. Given this relatively inaccuracy, this map does not present a security threat. Moreover, all the data sets used for this geo-codding are openly available on the Internet and could easily be replicated by anyone. Our purpose is to visualize (at a relatively high scale) the patterns exhibited by this particular data set illustrated below. The categories in the legend are our own classifications based on the information provided by Wikileaks. It is interesting to note that the vast majority of these facilities are not directly military related. Even the ones that we mark as military are industrial related military rather than actual bases. Instead the list seems to focus on non-military topics such as telecommunications, energy related facilities and pharmaceuticals. Much of the list is also focused on supplies of important raw materials (Bauxite, Chromite, and Rare Earth Minerals) as well as the ability to move products through ports and shipping channels. These data offer a fascinating insight into the ways that the national security priorities of the United States span the entire globe. This global web of essential facilities goes a long way to explain the fact that the US Department of Defense has more military facilities around the world than all other nations combined. The globalization of the world economy means that facilities that are vital to the communication, health, and economic needs of the U.S. are scattered across the planet; and this ultimately means that the U.S. (as well as other developed and developing countries) have to contend with new and changing notions of what "security" means in the 21st century. Dr. Matthew Zook, Ph.D. Department of Geography University of Kentucky