WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Charged
Today May 23, 2019 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been charged with an 18-count superseding indictment by a Federal Grand Jury for his “alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States” (1). “[The] indictment alleges that Assange was complicit with Chelsea Manning, a former intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army, in unlawfully obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to the national defense” (1). The indictment further claims Assange intended for “the information [] to be used to the injury of the United States or the advantage of a foreign nation” (1). “Assange then published on WikiLeaks classified documents that contained… [confidential] information to United States forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to U.S. State Department diplomats around the world” (1). “[B]eginning in late 2009, Assange and WikiLeaks actively solicited United States classified information, including United States classified documents,… databases containing approximately 90,000 Afghanistan war-related significant activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related significant activities reports, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs, and 250,000 U.S. Department of State cables” (1). ” Many of these documents were classified at the Secret level, meaning that their unauthorized disclosure could cause serious damage to United States national security” (1). Assange will now stand trial and “[i]f convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each count” (1).
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