U.S. Intelligence planned to destroy WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks release: March 15, 2010keywords:
WikiLeaks, U.S. intelligence, U.S. Army, National Ground Intelligence Center, NGIC, classified, SE-CRET, NOFORN
restraint:
Classified SECRET/NOFORN (US)
title:
Wikileaks.org - An Online Reference to Foreign Intelligence Services, Insurgents, Or Terrorist Groups?
date:
March 18, 2008
group:
United States Army Counterintelligence Center, Cyber Counterintelligence Assessments Branch; De-partment of Defence Intelligence Analysis Program
author:
Michael D. Horvath
link:
http://wikileaks.org/file/us-intel-wikileaks.pdf 
pages:
32
Description
By Julian Assange (julian@wikileaks.org)
This document is a classifed (SECRET/NOFORN) 32 page U.S. counterintelligence investigation into WikiLeaks.“The possibility that current employees or moles within DoD or elsewhere in the U.S. government are providingsensitive or classified information to Wikileaks.org cannot be ruled out”. It concocts a plan to fatally marginalizethe organization. Since WikiLeaks uses “trust as a center of gravity by protecting the anonymity and identity of theinsiders, leakers or whisteblowers”, the report recommends “The identification, exposure, termination of employment,criminal prosecution, legal action against current or former insiders, leakers, or whistlblowers could potentially damageor destroy this center of gravity and deter others considering similar actions from using the Wikileaks.org Web site”.[As two years have passed since the date of the report, with no WikiLeaks’ source exposed, it appears that this planwas ineffective]. As an odd justificaton for the plan, the report claims that “Several foreign countries including China,Israel, North Kora, Russia, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe have denounced or blocked access to the Wikileaks.org website”.The report provides further justification by enumerating embarrassing stories broken by WikiLeaks—U.S. equipmentexpenditure in Iraq, probable U.S. violations of the Cemical Warfare Convention Treaty in Iraq, the battle over theIraqi town of Fallujah and human rights violations at Guantanmo Bay. Note that the report contains a number of inaccurances, for instance, the claim that WikiLeaks has no editorial control. The report concludes with 13 items of intelligence to be answered about WikiLeaks.wikileaks.org
 
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SECRET//NOFORNSECRET//NOFORNPage 1 of 32
ACIC Home 
(U) Wikileaks.org
 — 
An Online Reference to ForeignIntelligence Services, Insurgents, or Terrorist Groups?
NGIC-2381-0617-08
 
 Information Cutoff Date: 28 February 2008
 
Publication Date: 18 March 2008
 
 National Security InformationUnauthorized Disclosure Subject to Criminal Sanctions
 
 Derived from: Multiple sources Declassify on: Source documents marked 25X1 Date of source: 20060725
 This Counterintelligence Analysis Report is published under the auspices of the Department of Defense Intelligence Analysis Program (DIAP).Prepared by:Michael D. HorvathCyber Counterintelligence Assessments BranchArmy Counterintelligence CenterExternal Coordination: National Ground Intelligence Center[1]  This product responds to HQ, Department of Army, production requirement C764-97-0005.ACIC Product Identification Number is RB08-0617.[Back to Table of Contents] 
(U) Purpose
(U) This special report assesses the counterintelligence threat posed to the US Army by theWikileaks.org Web site.[Back to Table of Contents] 
 
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SECRET//NOFORNSECRET//NOFORNPage 2 of 32
(U) Executive Summary
(S//NF) Wikileaks.org, a publicly accessible Internet Web site, represents a potential forceprotection, counterintelligence, operational security (OPSEC), and information security(INFOSEC) threat to the US Army. The intentional or unintentional leaking and posting of USArmy sensitive or classified information to Wikileaks.org could result in increased threats toDoD personnel, equipment, facilities, or installations. The leakage of sensitive and classifiedDoD information also calls attention to the insider threat, when a person or persons motivated bya particular cause or issue wittingly provides information to domestic or foreign personnel ororganizations to be published by the news media or on the Internet. Such information could be of value to foreign intelligence and security services (FISS), foreign military forces, foreigninsurgents, and foreign terrorist groups for collecting information or for planning attacks againstUS force, both within the United States and abroad.(S//NF) The possibility that a current employee or mole within DoD or elsewhere in the USgovernment is providing sensitive information or classified information to Wikileaks.org cannot
 be ruled out. Wikileaks.org claims that the ―leakers‖ or ―whistleblowers‖ of sensitive or 
classified DoD documents are former US government employees. These claims are highlysuspect, however, since Wikileaks.org states that the anonymity and protection of the leakers orwhistleblowers is one of its primary goals. Referencing of leakers using codenames andproviding incorrect employment information, employment status, and other contradictoryinformation by Wikileaks.org are most likely rudimentary OPSEC measures designed to protectthe identity of the current or former insiders who leaked the information. On the other hand, onecannot rule out the possibility that some of the contradictions in describing leakers could beinadvertent OPSEC errors by the authors, contributors, or Wikileaks.org staff personnel withlimited experience in protecting the identity of their sources.(U) The stated intent of the Wikileaks.org Web site is to expose unethical practices, illegalbehavior, and wrongdoing within corrupt corporations and oppressive regimes in Asia, theformer Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East. To do so, the developers of theWikileaks.org Web site want to provide a secure forum to where leakers, contributors, orwhistleblowers from any country can anonymously post or send documentation and otherinformation that exposes corruption or wrongdoing by governments or corporations. Thedevelopers believe that the disclosure of sensitive or classified information involving a foreigngovernment or corporation will eventually result in the increased accountability of a democratic,oppressive, or corrupt the government to its citizens.[2]  (S//NF) Anyone can post information to the Wikileaks.org Web site, and there is no editorialreview or oversight to verify the accuracy of any information posted to the Web site. Personsaccessing the Web site can form their own opinions regarding the accuracy of the informationposted, and they are allowed to post comments. This raises the possibility that the Wikileaks.orgWeb site could be used to post fabricated information; to post misinformation, disinformation,and propaganda; or to conduct perception management and influence operations designed toconvey a negative message to those who view or retrieve information from the Web site.[3]