WikiLeaks Founder: I Don't Know Source of Afghan Leak

LONDON (July 28) -- U.S. military investigators hunting for the inside source who passed more than 91,000 classifiied documents on the Afghan war to WikiLeaks needn't bother interviewing the site's founder. Julian Assange says that just like them, he doesn't have a clue about the leaker's identity.

Speaking to a packed room at London's Frontline Club, an organization set up to promote independent journalism, Assange explained Tuesday night how WikiLeaks' computerized document submission process masked the source's name and location.

"We never know the source of the leak, as our whole system is designed so that we don't have to keep that secret," Assange said. "It's very, very hard when your adversary is a modern state intelligence agency to keep a secret. But if you don't collect the secret in the first place, then you don't have to keep it."

As for the Pentagon and Justice Department's current No. 1 suspect in the case -- Army intelligence Pvt. Bradley Manning, charged in July with providing a video to WikiLeaks -- Assange says nothing connects the 22-year-old soldier with this latest data set.

"There is no charge relating to this material and Bradley Manning, and there has been no credible evidence-based allegations related to this material and Manning," he said. "He is alleged and has been charged with being the source of the 'Collateral Murder' tape, which shows how two Reuters journalists and between 16 and 24 other people were mowed down by an Apache helicopter in 2007." (WikiLeaks has previously been criticized for not highlighting the fact that at least one of the men targeted by the helicopter appears to have been carrying a rocket-propelled grenade.)

Assange went on to criticize the U.S. military's treatment of Bradley, saying he had been illegally "laundered" from his base in Baghdad to a prison in Kuwait six weeks ago. "There is no reason why he should be in Kuwait," he said. "It appears as though Kuwait is being used as a Guantanamo for a U.S. soldier: He is kept away from inquiries by the press, and he is also kept away from effective civil legal representations and the civil court system in the U.S."

Since WikiLeaks released some 75,000 documents on the Afghan war on Monday -- 15,000 others are being held back over fears they may contain Afghan informers' names -- Assange has come under attack from U.S. officials who argue that he has presented the Taliban with a trove of useful data.

President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the battlefield leak "could potentially jeopardize individuals or operations." And in Baghdad, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news conference that the release had "a real potential threat ... to put American lives at risk."

Other ex-government figures claim the leak may aid foreign intelligence agencies. "If I'm head of the Russian intelligence," former CIA chief Michael Hayden told The Associated Press, "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?'"

Pushed by one Frontline questioner over whether WikiLeaks was a danger to national security, Assange became visibly annoyed. "You often hear that something may be a threat to U.S. national security. This must be shot down, whenever this statement is made," he said. "If we are talking about the threat to individual soldiers or commands or citizens somewhere in the U.S., then that is a genuine concern. But a threat to U.S. national security? Is anyone serious? The security of the entire nation of the United States? It's just ridiculous."

He also rebutted claims that the leak could put allied forces in Afghanistan in greater danger. "Western troops have extraordinary physical protection [and] run around all day with guns on the ground, so you think they're not already being targeted?" he said. Assange added that he didn't think the documents provided any great new insights into troop tactics, but said that this area had already been covered by previous WikiLeaks releases.

"We put out that stuff all the time," he said. "We've released the U.S. Special Forces [training, tactics and procedures] manual for southern Afghanistan for 2006, we released the U.S. Special Forces manual on unconventional warfare dated September 2008."

Other questioners asked Assange why WikiLeaks appeared to focus on the actions of Western democracies -- who, at worst, might jail Assange for making state secrets public -- as opposed to more repressive regimes like China, where he'd likely be executed for anti-government activities. Assange replied that he was an equal-opportunity offender.

"We've published the secret state censorship list of [state broadcaster] CCTV in China and [Chinese search engine] Baidu. We are censored in China, so if you try and search for WikiLeaks.org through Baidu, your connection will reset and you won't be able to surf for anything for 20 minutes," he said. "So don't worry, we have enemies everywhere."