WikiLeaks Founder Sees Success in Exposing E-mails

(Nov. 29) -- Earlier this month, it posted internal e-mails that damaged the reputation of leading climate change researchers. Last week, it published more than 500,000 text messages sent from government personnel in the hours after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Such explosive disclosures are just business as usual for WikiLeaks, which since its founding two years ago has beaten legal challenges and criticism to establish itself as one of the leading, if controversial, bulwarks against official secrecy.

While some are already calling for a congressional probe to look into how the 9/11 texts were leaked, WikiLeaks maintains that the information needs to be part of the public record. The messages are an "integral part of the defining moment of our time, from the government response to the raw emotions of people on the day," WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange wrote in an e-mail interview. "They form an intellectual monument to this event and are part of our children's heritage. Their true value is something people are just now in the process of discovering, and we encourage everyone to assess these messages."

WikiLeaks, which has not commented on how the text messages were obtained, is designed to allow people to anonymously leak documents and information without fear of reprisal. The organization's strident anti-secrecy stance has led it to post everything from sensitive military documents to university administration policies.

Its founders argue that this experiment in openness has been a success.

"Although less than two years old, under-resourced and with most of our work yet to be done, WikiLeaks has triggered reforms across the world," Assange wrote in this weekend's New York Post. "We have exposed hundreds of state assassinations, billions laundered by banks and corrupt politicians, and everywhere, censorship and the depravities of war."

Assange argues that WikiLeaks fills a vital role separate from the press by providing a direct outlet for whistle-blowers who want to expose information. "Like lawyers, we may advise a source on what we believe is the best course forward, but they make the final decision as to what is left in or out," he told Sphere.

In the case of the 9/11 texts, the very personal nature of some of the messages might make some wonder whether privacy should ever outweigh openness. But asked whether anyone whose 9/11 texts had been released had contacted WikiLeaks to protest, Assange said: "We have received no complaints."