Its been a long time since Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, could hope to identify himself as a journalist.
Computer hacker, yes. Anarchist, undoubtedly. But as a seeker of truth, Assange is reckless and self-serving.
Assange is most recently in the news for his arrest last week by British authorities for violating Ecuadorian policies while holed up in their London-based embassy for the last seven years.
The United States has requested the 48-year-old Australians extradition so he can stand trial for conspiring to hack into U.S. government computer systems.
Assange has honed his skills as a computer programmer to the point it seems no countrys secrets are safe. Over the last nine years WikiLeaks has released troves of secret government documents, primarily those of Western nations.
In the case of the United States, WikiLeaks has published secret materials concerning our military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan beginning in 2010, as well as the CIAs hacking program that WikiLeaks published in 2017 under the name Vault 7.
Assange is also suspected of working in 2010 with Chelsea Manning, then a junior soldier, to crack the password to a secret Pentagon network used by our diplomats stationed around the world a fools errand, with deadly consequences.
If found guilty of simply hacking into U.S. computer systems, Assange could get up to five years in prison.
But if U.S. officials decide to pursue charges under the Espionage Act of 1917, Assange could face life in prison. To date, U.S. officials have assured English authorities they would not pursue the death penalty for Assange, which, though possible, would likely jeopardize his release.
Its also been alleged that Assange is chummy with Russian officials and interfered with the 2016 U.S. election when WikiLeaks published thousands of internal emails of the Democratic National Committee hacked by Russians.
Last summer 12 Russian agents were indicted in the scheme, charged with conspiracy against the United States. Their helpmate? Organization 1, code name for WikiLeaks.
SUPPORTERS call Assange a rock star of free speech.
Sending troves of confidential data out into the public is a crime, and should be prosecuted as such.
Real journalists work to defend democracy, not undermine it.
