Web Site WikiLeaks.org Claims CIA Is Spying on It

(March 26) -- The vast majority of people who claim they are being followed by the CIA might be rightfully dismissed as paranoid. But for those working with WikiLeaks, a Web site dedicated to exposing official secrets, being tailed by the CIA seems plausible, at least in theory.

WikiLeaks today released what it claims is a CIA report intended to influence European public opinion to support continuing military operations in Afghanistan. The site also claimed the CIA has been spying on it.

The report, dated March 11, and purportedly conducted by a CIA "red cell," looks at ways to sustain support for the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan among the West European population. Among other recommendations, the report suggests that the plight of Afghan women and refugees could resonate well in European countries.

"Afghan women could serve as ideal messengers in humanizing the ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] role in combating the Taliban because of women's ability to speak personally and credibly about their experiences under the Taliban, their aspirations for the future, and their fears of a Taliban victory," said the report posted on the WikiLeaks Web site.

"Outreach initiatives that create media opportunities for Afghan women to share their stories with French, German, and other European women could help to overcome pervasive skepticism among women in Western Europe toward the ISAF mission," it said.

The CIA would not comment on the report's authenticity or its contents.

The report's release comes on the heels of a bizarre week for WikiLeaks, whose Twitter feed has read like a Cold War-era thriller, filled with reports of secret surveillance, detention and allegations of spy intrigue.

Julian Assange, the editor of WikiLeaks, published an editorial today on its Web site titled "U.S. must stop spying on WikiLeaks." According to a report on World News Australia, he said the CIA had been following him.

In an e-mail to AOL News, Assange said he couldn't sure it was the CIA, and that it may have been agents from other security services, such as the Defense Security Service. But he insisted he was followed by two people traveling under State Department "cover' and said that he expected to have "more physical evidence soon."

CIA spokeswoman Georgia Little told AOL News, "That's just absurd."