MANAMA, Bahrain  When American diplomats get together these days, there is lots of dark talk about the fallout from the sensational disclosure of secret diplomatic cables. Will angry foreign governments kick out ambassadors? Will spooked locals stop talking to their embassy contacts?

Behind all the public hand-wringing, however, there is another, more muted reaction: pride.

The WikiLeaks affair has turned an unaccustomed spotlight on the diplomatic corps  pinstriped authors who pour their hearts and minds into cables, which are filed to the State Department and, until now, were often barely read by desk officers, let alone senior diplomats.

Whatever damage the leaks may do, and nobody doubts it could be substantial, they have showcased the many roles of the Foreign Service officer in the field: part intelligence analyst, part schmoozer, part spy  and to judge by these often artful cables, part foreign correspondent.

The pride of authorship is shared by their boss, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who found a silver lining in the disclosures, even after she spent last week trying to smooth the feathers of foreign leaders described in the cables as feckless, profligate, vain, corrupt or worse.