NOTE The following text is a quote:
www.defense.gov//News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=60494
Pentagon Releases Letter Sent to Purported WikiLeaks Attorney
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2010 – Defense Department officials today released a letter the Pentagon’s top lawyer sent to a man purported to be an attorney for the WikiLeaks website, which published tens of thousands of classified documents last month and is threatening to release 15,000 more.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters this afternoon that Timothy J. Matusheski was a “no show” for a telephone call that was arranged last week when his name and purported status as a WikiLeaks attorney came up in an investigation of the document leak.
The following day, Whitman said, the Pentagon’s general counsel codified the Defense Department’s position in a letter and sent it to Matusheski.
Here is the text of the letter, dated Aug. 16 and signed by General Counsel Jeh C. Johnson. Words that were underlined in the original are presented here in all capital letters:
Dear Mr. Matusheski
I understand that you represent yourself to be an attorney for WikiLeaks and that you, on behalf of that organization, sought a conversation with someone in the United States Government to discuss “harm minimization” with respect to some 15,000 U.S. Government classified documents that WikiLeaks is holding and is threatening to make public. In response, I was prepared to speak with you yesterday at 10:00am EDT and convey the position of the Department of Defense. Despite your agreement to be available by telephone yesterday morning, we could not reach you at that time.
The position of the Department of Defense is clear, and it should be conveyed to your client in no uncertain terms:
WikiLeaks is holding the property of the U.S. Government, including classified documents and sensitive national security information that has not been authorized for release. Further, it is the view of the Department of Defense that WikiLeaks obtained this material in circumstances that constitute a violation of United States law, and that as long as WikiLeaks holds this material, the violation of the law is ongoing.
The Secretary of Defense has made clear the damage to our national security by the public release by WikiLeaks of some 76,000 classified documents several weeks ago, and the threat to the lives of coalition forces in Afghanistan and to the lives of local Afghan nationals as a result. As the Secretary has also stated, we know from various sources that our enemy is accessing the WikiLeaks website for the purpose of exploiting WikiLeaks’ illegal and irresponsible actions, to pursue their own terrorist aims.
The threatened release of additional classified documents by WikiLeaks will add to the damage. Among other sensitive items, we believe the classified documents contain, like the first batch of released documents, the names of Afghan nationals who are assisting coalition forces in our efforts to bring about peace and stability in that portion of the world.
Thus, the Department of Defense will NOT negotiate some “minimized” or “sanitized” version of a release by WikiLeaks of additional U.S. Government classified documents. The Department demands that NOTHING further be released by WikiLeaks, that ALL of the U.S. Government classified documents that WikiLeaks has obtained be returned immediately, and that WikiLeaks remove and destroy all of these records from its databases.
(Signed)
Jeh Charles Johnson
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Quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2576862/posts
WikiLeaks says it will release CIA paper on Wednesday
CNN ^ | 8/24/2010
Posted on August 24, 2010 5:44:21 PM PDT by markomalley
(CNN) - WikiLeaks, a whistle-blower website, posted on the group’s Twitter page on Tuesday: “WikiLeaks to release CIA paper tomorrow.”
The website set off a firestorm of controversy recently when it posted some 76,000 U.S. documents related to the war in Afghanistan. The group has said it has another 15,000 documents, which it plans to release soon.
It was not immediately clear whether the Twitter post on Tuesday is related to the batch of documents that WikiLeaks has called the “Afghan War Diary.”
(Excerpt) Read more at politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com ...
Quote:
www.defense.gov//News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=60554
Spokesman Denies Pentagon Role in WikiLeaks Founder Charge
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 23, 2010 – A Defense Department spokesman today termed as “ridiculous” the notion that Pentagon officials were involved in recent rape allegations against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Swedish authorities issued an arrest warrant Aug. 20, but revoked it soon after.
CNN reported today that Assange said the allegations were part of a “smear campaign” after his website posted tens of thousands of classified U.S. military war records. Assange says WikiLeaks has an additional 15,000 documents it plans to post.
Assange said he has ideas about who may be behind the accusations, but would not share his suspicion “without direct evidence.”
Any thought that the Defense Department may be part of such a conspiracy is “absurd,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today when reporters questioned him about the matter.
“No. That’s ridiculous,” Whitman said.
Whitman said the Pentagon remains firm in its demand for WikiLeaks to remove the posted documents, many of which contain the names of U.S. troops and Afghan nationals who support them.
“I think we’ve made our position very clear, that this stolen property should be returned immediately,” Whitman said. “The information on the Web should be taken down. There should be no further posting of any information, and the department is not interested in any sort of minimization or sanitation exercise.”
The Pentagon is working to ensure the safety of the individuals – American and Afghan – named in the documents, Whitman added.
“The mere existence of some of these documents and the names that are in the documents certainly do pose a threat,” he said. “We have a moral and ethical obligation to take measures.”
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