Notwithstanding current threats by Julian Assange to release additional thousands of secret unredacted “thermo-nuclear” documents following his arrest and detention in London to answer to rape charges in Sweden, the United States should indict the WikiLeaks founder for violation of the Espionage Act and seek his extradition.
As State Department legal adviser Harold Koh warned Assange and his lawyers prior to the then-imminent release of more than 250,000 confidential documents, those documents were acquired “in violation of U.S. law…without regard for the grave consequences of this action.” Those consequences, Koh declared, included placing “at risk the lives of countless innocent individuals” and placing “at risk on-going military operations, including operations to stop terrorists.”
