The Obama administration’s effort to charge WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with a federal crime is not looking good.

 

Federal investigators so far have not uncovered sufficient evidence to show Assange persuaded an Army private to leak government secrets to his website. What the government has learned to date is that Private Bradley Manning acted on his own when he copied volumes of intelligence data and turned it over to subordinates of Assange.

 

Unable to find clear-cut proof that Assange masterminded the removal of classified State Department cables, the FBI and the Department of Justice are still trying to bring conspiracy charges against him. But getting a case like that to stick also will be difficult. It would be based on the argument that Manning gave the material to associates of Assange and that Assange is the leader of the group that received the material.

 

Assange is currently fighting an attempt to extradite him from the United Kingdom to Sweden, where he is wanted on allegations of sexual assault.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Assange Probe Hits Snag (by Julian Barnes and Evan Perez, Wall Street Journal)

No U.S. Law against WikiLeaks Publishing Diplomatic Cables (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)