Luke Harding and David Leigh - Wikileaks: Inside Julian Assanges War on Secrecy

It was the biggest leak in history. WikiLeaks infuriated the worlds greatest superpower, embarrassed the British royal family and helped cause a revolution in Africa. The man behind it was Julian Assange, one of the strangest figures ever to become a worldwide celebrity. Was he an internet messiah or a cyber-terrorist? Information freedom fighter or sex criminal? The debate would echo around the globe as US politicians called for his assassination.

Award-winning Guardian journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding have been at the centre of a unique publishing drama that involved the release of some 250,000 secret diplomatic cables and classified files from the Afghan and Iraq wars. At one point the platinum-haired hacker was hiding from the CIA in David Leighs London house. Now, together with the papers investigative reporting team, Leigh and Harding reveal the startling inside story of the man and the leak.

Inside Julian Assanges
War on Secrecy

David Leigh and Luke Harding

with Ed Pilkington, Robert Booth and Charles Arthur

This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Version 1.0

Epub ISBN 9780852652404

www.randomhouse.co.uk

Published by Guardian Books 2011

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Copyright The Guardian

David Leigh and Luke Harding have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the authors of this work

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

First published in Great Britain in 2011 by
Guardian Books
Kings Place
90 York Way
London
N1 9GU

www.guardianbooks.co.uk

A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-0-85265-239-8

WikiLeaks

M ELBOURNE , N AIROBI , R EYKJAVIK , B ERLIN , L ONDON , N ORFOLK , S TOCKHOLM

Julian Assange WikiLeaks founder/editor

Sarah Harrison aide to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

Kristinn Hrafnsson Icelandic journalist and WikiLeaks supporter

James Ball WikiLeaks data expert

Vaughan Smith former Grenadier Guards captain, founder of the Frontline Club and Assanges host at Ellingham Hall

Jacob Appelbaum WikiLeaks representative in the US

Daniel Ellsberg Vietnam war whistleblower, WikiLeaks supporter

Daniel Domscheit-Berg German programmer and WikiLeaks technical architect (aka Daniel Schmitt)

Mikael Viborg owner of WikiLeaks Swedish internet service provider PRQ

Ben Laurie British encryption expert, adviser to Assange on encryption

Mwalimu Mati head of anti-corruption group Mars Group Kenya, source of first major WikiLeaks report

Rudolf Elmer former head of the Cayman Islands branch of the Julius Baer bank, source of second major WikiLeaks report

Smri McCarthy Iceland-based WikiLeaks enthusiast, programmer, Modern Media Initiative (MMI) campaigner

Birgitta Jnsdttir Icelandic MP and WikiLeaks supporter

Rop Gonggrijp Dutch hacker-businessman, friend of Assange and MMI campaigner

Herbert Snorrason Icelandic MMI campaigner

Israel Shamir WikiLeaks associate

Donald Bstrom Swedish journalist and WikiLeaks Stockholm connection

The Guardian

L ONDON

Alan Rusbridger editor-in-chief

Nick Davies investigative reporter

David Leigh investigations editor

Ian Katz deputy editor (news)

Ian Traynor Europe correspondent

Harold Frayman systems editor

Declan Walsh Pakistan/Afghanistan correspondent

Alastair Dant data visualiser

Simon Rogers data editor

Jonathan Steele former Iraq correspondent

James Meek former Iraq correspondent

Rob Evans investigative journalist

Luke Harding Moscow correspondent

Robert Booth reporter

Stuart Millar news editor, guardian.co.uk

Janine Gibson editor, guardian.co.uk

Jonathan Casson head of production

Gill Phillips in-house head of legal

Jan Thompson managing editor

New York Times

N EW Y ORK , L ONDON

Max Frankel former executive editor

Bill Keller editor

Eric Schmitt war correspondent

John F Burns London correspondent

Ian Fisher deputy foreign editor

Der Spiegel

H AMBURG , L ONDON

Georg Mascolo editor-in-chief

Holger Stark head of German desk

Marcel Rosenbach journalist

John Goetz journalist

El Pas

M ADRID , L ONDON

Javier Moreno editor-in-chief

Vicente Jimnez deputy editor

Other Media

Raffi Khatchadourian New Yorker staffer and author of a major profile of Assange

Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen Reuters news agency employees accidentally killed by US army pilots in 2007

David Schlesinger Reuters editor-in-chief

Kevin Poulsen former hacker, senior editor at Wired

Gavin MacFadyen City University professor and journalist, London host to Assange

Stephen Grey freelance reporter

Iain Overton former TV journalist, head of Bureau of Investigative Journalism

Heather Brooke London-based American journalist and freedom of information activist

Bradley Manning

Bradley Manning 23-year-old US army private and alleged WikiLeaks source

Rick McCombs former principal at Crescent high school, Crescent, Oklahoma

Brian, Susan, Casey Manning parents and sister

Tom Dyer school friend

Kord Campbell former manager at Zoto software company

Jeff Paterson steering committee member of the Bradley Manning support network

Adrian Lamo hacker and online confidant

Timothy Webster former US army counter-intelligence special agent

Tyler Watkins former boyfriend

David House former hacker and supporter

David Coombs lawyer

Julian Assange

Christine Hawkins mother

John Shipton father

Brett Assange stepfather

Keith Hamilton former partner of Christine

Daniel Assange Julians son

Paul Galbally Assanges lawyer during his 1996 hacking trial

Stockholm allegations / extradition

Sonja Braun plaintiff; member of Brotherhood movement

Katrin Weiss plaintiff; museum worker

Claes Borgstrm lawyer for both women, former Swedish equal opportunities ombudsman and prominent Social Democrat politician

Marianne Ny Swedish chief prosecutor and sex crimes specialist

Mark Stephens Assange lawyer

Geoffrey Robertson, QC Assange lawyer

Jennifer Robinson lawyer in Mark Stephens office

Gemma Lindfield lawyer acting for the Swedish authorities

Howard Riddle district judge, Westminster magistrates court

Mr Justice Ouseley high court judge, London

Government

Hillary Clinton US Secretary of State

Louis B Susman US ambassador in London

PJ Crowley US assistant secretary of state for public affairs