Sarah Gordon, Sky News Online

US Secretary of State is set to give the Obama administration’s first live response to the WikiLeaks documents after worldwide uproar over their contents.

Hillary Clinton is addressing the allegations made in the leaked documents

Mrs Clinton, who has herself been accused of encouraging US diplomats to engage in low-level espionage, will address the diplomatic repercussions of the 250,000 documents.

WikiLeaks claims it has released the information to “reveal the contradictions between the US’s public persona and what it says behind closed doors” and to encourage citizens to push for more information about what goes on “behind the scenes”.

WikiLeaks Diplomatic Crisis

The most shocking revelation so far is the pressure put on the US by Arabic states to take preemptive action against Iran before it develops nuclear weapons.

But plenty more embarrassing details have also been leaked.

Personal opinions from diplomats on their host nations and unflattering comments on world leaders have been unveiled.

And requests by Mrs Clinton and her predecessor Condoleezza Rice for diplomats to obtain personal details of people they meet including frequent flyer numbers, credit card details, iris scans, fingerprints, and even DNA, have caused a furore.

Mrs Clinton’s public statement comes just as she leaves on a four-day tour of Central Asia and the Middle East, areas that feature prominently in the leaked cables.

She is due to meet Russian President Dmitry Medevedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who were both insulted in leaked cables.

Mr Medvedev was described as “playing Robin to Putin’s Batman” and Mrs Merkel was refered to as someone who “avoids risk and is seldom creative”.

In light of the revelations, apparently leaked by junior US Army soldier Bradley Manning, Obama’s administration has ordered a review of how sensitive information in handled.

The US government, informed in advance of the leaked document contents, has contacted governments around the world, including in Russia, Europe and the Middle East, to try to limit the damage.