In 2010, WikiLeaks, led by editor and founder Julian Assange, published classified material supplied by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. The releases included video of a 2007 U.S. airstrike in Baghdad that WikiLeaks presented as evidence of war crimes, along with military logs from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and U.S. diplomatic cables. The disclosures exposed civilian deaths, military operations, and diplomatic activity to worldwide scrutiny, while raising unresolved questions about the risks of publishing unredacted or sensitive material and the responsibilities of digital publishers.
The U.S. government unsealed an indictment against Assange in April 2019 alleging conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, then brought additional charges in May 2019 and June 2020 under the Espionage Act of 1917. Critics argued that prosecuting a publisher would create an unprecedented threat to investigative journalism; the source also reports that a key government witness later said in 2021 that he had fabricated testimony. After more than five years in London’s Belmarsh prison and prolonged extradition litigation, Assange pleaded guilty in Saipan on 26 June 2024 to conspiring to obtain and disclose classified national-defense documents, received a sentence of time served, and returned to Australia.
