WikiLeaks founder charged with violating Espionage Act

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors on Thursday accused Wiki-Leaks founder Julian Assange of violating the Espionage Act, bringing against him a new, 18-count indictment alleging that he unlawfully obtained and disclosed national defense information.

The new charges dramatically raise the stakes of the case both for Assange and the news media, raising questions about the limits of the First Amendment and protections for publishers of classified information.

Prosecutors say Assange worked with a former Army intelligence analyst to obtain and disseminate classified information — conduct of which many traditional reporters might also be accused. Prosecutors, though, sought to distinguish the anti-secrecy advocate from a traditional reporter.

“Julian Assange is no journalist,” said John Demers, the Justice Department’s Assistant Attorney General for National Security. He said Assange engaged in “explicit solicitation of classified information.”

Assange was previously indicted by a U.S. grand jury over his interactions in 2010 with Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who shared hundreds of thousands of classified war logs and diplomatic papers with WikiLeaks. If convicted, Assange would face a maximum of five years in prison under that conspiracy charge. The new charges carry with them a maximum possible sentence of 170 years in prison.

The new charges against Assange carry potential consequences not just for him but for others who publish classified information, and they could lead to a change in the delicate balance in U.S. law between press freedom and government secrecy. They also raise fresh questions about whether the British courts will view the new charges as justified and worthy of extradition.

Prosecutors say in the new indictment that Assange and Wiki-Leaks “repeatedly encouraged sources with access to classified information to steal it” and give it to the anti-secrecy organization, posting on its website a “most wanted” list for leaks organized by country and saying the documents must be “likely to have political, diplomatic, ethical or historical impact on release.” They said Manning responded to that clarion call, downloading nearly four government databases of war reports, Guantanamo Bay detainee assessments and State Department cables, and turned them over to WikiLeaks.

The disclosures, prosecutors alleged, contained the names of local Afghans and Iraqis who had given information to the U.S., as well as other confidential sources for the U.S. government.

Assange is in jail in London, where he was arrested in April. The U.S. government has until June 11 to deliver to Britain its case for extradition, a process that could take months or years and could be complicated by a rape allegation against Assange in Sweden. Assange, 47, has said he plans to fight efforts to bring him to the U.S. to face the criminal allegations.