A secret WikiLeaks can never reveal
Source: Agencies |
July 29, 2010, Thursday
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WIKILEAKS' editor-in-chief says his organization doesn't know who sent it some 91,000 secret United States military documents, telling journalists the website was set up to hide the source of its data from those who receive it.
Julian Assange didn't say whether he meant he had no idea who leaked the documents or whether his organization simply could not be sure. But he did say the added layer of secrecy helped protect the site's sources from spy agencies and hostile corporations.
"We never know the source of the leak," he told journalists at London's Frontline Club. "Our whole system is designed such that we don't have to keep that secret."
American officials said US operatives inside Afghanistan and Pakistan may be in danger following the massive online disclosure on Sunday.
President Barack Obama said the leak of classified information from the battlefield "could potentially jeopardize individuals or operations." He was speaking after meeting Congressional leaders from both parties on the topic.
US Attorney General Eric Holder said a Pentagon investigation will determine whether criminal charges will be filed in the leaking of Afghanistan war secrets. Holder said the Justice Department was working with the Pentagon-led investigation to determine the source of the leak.
In Baghdad, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters: "There is a real potential threat there to put American lives at risk."
Assange acknowledged there might be concerns about the authenticity of the site's material, but said WikiLeaks had yet to be fooled by a bogus document.
WikiLeaks used ex-military and former intelligence workers to help evaluate whether documents leaked from the armed forces or spy agencies were genuine.
US officials are also worried that the raw data may prove useful not only to the Taliban but to hostile intelligence services with the resources to make sense of such vast vaults of data, said Ellen McCarthy, former US intelligence officer and president of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance.
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden denounced the leak as a gift to America's enemies.
"If I had gotten this trove on the Taliban or al-Qaida, I would have called it priceless," he said. "If I'm head of the Russian intelligence, I'm getting my best English speakers and saying: 'Read every document, and I want you to tell me, how good are these guys? What are their approaches, their strengths, their weaknesses and their blind spots?'"
Assange agreed the files offered an insight into US tactics. But that was none of his concern, and his website already carried the US Special Forces' 2006 Southern Afghanistan Counterinsurgency Manual, among other military documents. "We put out that stuff all the time," he said.
Julian Assange didn't say whether he meant he had no idea who leaked the documents or whether his organization simply could not be sure. But he did say the added layer of secrecy helped protect the site's sources from spy agencies and hostile corporations.
"We never know the source of the leak," he told journalists at London's Frontline Club. "Our whole system is designed such that we don't have to keep that secret."
American officials said US operatives inside Afghanistan and Pakistan may be in danger following the massive online disclosure on Sunday.
President Barack Obama said the leak of classified information from the battlefield "could potentially jeopardize individuals or operations." He was speaking after meeting Congressional leaders from both parties on the topic.
US Attorney General Eric Holder said a Pentagon investigation will determine whether criminal charges will be filed in the leaking of Afghanistan war secrets. Holder said the Justice Department was working with the Pentagon-led investigation to determine the source of the leak.
In Baghdad, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters: "There is a real potential threat there to put American lives at risk."
Assange acknowledged there might be concerns about the authenticity of the site's material, but said WikiLeaks had yet to be fooled by a bogus document.
WikiLeaks used ex-military and former intelligence workers to help evaluate whether documents leaked from the armed forces or spy agencies were genuine.
US officials are also worried that the raw data may prove useful not only to the Taliban but to hostile intelligence services with the resources to make sense of such vast vaults of data, said Ellen McCarthy, former US intelligence officer and president of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance.
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden denounced the leak as a gift to America's enemies.
"If I had gotten this trove on the Taliban or al-Qaida, I would have called it priceless," he said. "If I'm head of the Russian intelligence, I'm getting my best English speakers and saying: 'Read every document, and I want you to tell me, how good are these guys? What are their approaches, their strengths, their weaknesses and their blind spots?'"
Assange agreed the files offered an insight into US tactics. But that was none of his concern, and his website already carried the US Special Forces' 2006 Southern Afghanistan Counterinsurgency Manual, among other military documents. "We put out that stuff all the time," he said.
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