We interrupt our regular coverage to address a rare dispatch from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that crossed the WikiLeaks Twitter feed this morning.
In it, Assange slams Wired.com, and this writer in particular, for what he labels a false report that WikiLeaks is preparing to release a database of nearly 400,000 U.S. military documents on the war in Iraq.
We first reported last month, based on information provided by former WikiLeaks staffers, one of whom we named, that WikiLeaks is preparing to release nearly 400,000 secret U.S. Army reports from the Iraq War. In a second article on Friday, we explored how the largest leak in U.S. military history might affect WikiLeaks' fortunes at a time of controversy and internal conflict at the secret-spilling organization.
We stand by that report. Assange is in control of his own publication dates, and it's no surprise that he would opt to delay the Iraq release until his website, which has been down for "scheduled maintenance" since September, is again functioning. (What else is he going to do? Upload it to RapidShare?) As with virtually every story we've done on WikiLeaks in the last three-plus years, we gave Assange a chance to comment before publication.
Ordinarily all of the above would go unsaid; if you don't see a correction on a Threat Level story, it's because no substantive factual errors have come to our attention.
But Assange goes on to suggest that we have an anti-WikiLeaks bias, and that's worth addressing.
I, of course, am not the editor of our esteemed sister blog, Danger Room, and you won't find any posts about cool weapons systems here. We run more toward cool warrantless surveillance programs, awesome FBI tracking devices, and bitchin' government abuses of the state secrets privilege.
You'll also find that we've been covering WikiLeaks since January 2007. The idea of applying the cypherpunk ethos and technology to the mission of disseminating sensitive documents, and protecting their sources, was fascinating to us well before Julian Assange was packing rooms at the National Press Club. In some 70 stories over the years, I and my staff have diligently charted WikiLeaks' successes, and its setbacks.
Those stories cut both ways. When reports circulated that WikiLeaks was squandering its funds on business class flights and luxury hotel rooms, we investigated, and found that it's actually an enormously frugal organization, and that Assange flies coach.
But when WikiLeaks was being lauded for its bulletproof, encryption-based infrastructure, we investigated that as well, and found that its security infrastructure had actually been fraying, and its submission system was offline for weeks without explanation.
Assange is notoriously sensitive to critical press. He has a strong personality, and at times his reaction reflects that.
I won't claim that I wasn't affected by Assange's accusations last June -- mostly channeled through proxies -- that I played a role in the arrest of accused WikiLeaks' source Bradley Manning. But Assange is wrong to think that those false claims have changed the tone of our WikiLeaks coverage. Collectively, I and the rest of the Threat Level team have decades of experience covering powerful agencies, people and organizations -- I've been at it for 12 years. We're all accustomed to catching flack for our work.
In the end, you shake it off. Keeping a cool head is one of the most valuable disciplines in journalism in the internet age. It's the one that keeps you open to new perspectives, new information and even new contacts -- every working journalist knows that their harshest critics can sometimes become their most valued sources. I'm not counting on having Assange as a source anytime soon, but keeping our coverage fair and accurate is crucial if we're to continue reporting on WikiLeaks.
Since its launch, WikiLeaks has grown from an edgy experiment into an organization of inestimable significance; Assange routinely ranks on lists of the most influential people on the planet. It's a powerful organization, with little transparency or accountability. We're pleased to be among a handful of news outlets that regularly break news about it, and we plan to go on, without favor or animosity.
(Photo: Julian Assange. By Lily Mihalik/Wired.com)
See Also:
- Will 400000 Secret Iraq War Documents Restore WikiLeaks' Sheen
- Unpublished Iraq War Logs Trigger Internal WikiLeaks Revolt
- WikiLeaks Posts Mysterious 'Insurance' File
- WikiLeaks Cash Flows In, Drips Out
- Mississippi Lawyer Drawn Into WikiLeaks Intrigue
- Wikileaks Releases Stunning Afghan War Logs — Is Iraq Next?
- Wikileaks Reopens for Leakers
- With World Watching, Wikileaks Falls Into Disrepair
- Suspected Wikileaks Source Described Crisis of Conscience Leading to Leaks
- U.S. Intelligence Analyst Arrested in Wikileaks Video Probe
- WikiLeaks Was Launched With Documents Intercepted From Tor
- Secret Document Calls Wikileaks 'Threat' to U.S. Army
- Wikileaks Closes Operations Temporarily Due to Budget Woes
- German Cops Raid Home of Wikileaks and Tor Volunteer
- Wikileaks Forced to Leak Its Own Secret Info
- WikiLeaks Posts More Prison Docs — This One from Iraq Prison