Congressman calls for anti-Wikileaks offensive
By John Timmer | Last updated about an hour ago
As the fallout from this weekend's document drop continues, at least one US Congressman wants the US government to go on the offensive. Rep. Peter King (R-NY), who will be chairing the House's Homeland Security Committee come January, sent letters to Obama administration officials on Sunday, asking that Wikileaks and its public face, Julian Assange, be declared both terrorists and spies.
For the espionage accusations, King sent a letter to Eric Holder, the US Attorney General, requesting that he consider bringing charges under the Espionage Act, specifically a section that deals with "gathering, transmitting or losing defense information." The section provides a laundry list of ways of obtaining information that fall under the law, but highlights that they must be done with intent or reason to believe that it will do injury to the US.
According to King, Wikileaks fits the bill. The repeated leaks, King alleges, "manifests Mr. Assange�s purposeful intent to damage not only our national interests in fighting the war on terror, but also undermines the very safety of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan." His letter also points out that one of the site's sources, a Private Bradley Manning, has been charged under precisely this statute.
If espionage won't do, however, King has a backup plan: terrorism. In a separate letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he asks that the Department undertake a review to determine whether Wikileaks could be designated a Foreign Terrorist organization. The letter says that the site fits the bill since it's: a) foreign, b) engaged in "terrorism," and c) threatens US security. The terrorism bit comes from the Defense Department's determination that the previously leaked materials had provided "material support" to a large number of terrorist organizations.
Of course, catching up with Assange is easier said than done. King recommends that Clinton work with the Swedish government to see if there's any way that Assange "can be brought to justice." Even without a public spokesman, however, there's no guarantee that the leaking would come to an end.
