WikiLeaks about to hit the fan

Bradley Manning charged in WikiLeaks case
(By Matthew Hay Brown, The Baltimore Sun, February 23, 2012)

Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, the former intelligence analyst accused of giving hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks, was formally charged Thursday with aiding the enemy and violating the Espionage Act.

Manning declined to enter a plea during the arraignment at Fort Meade. He also deferred a decision on whether he wants his case to be decided by a single military judge, a panel of officers, or a panel of officers and enlisted soldiers.

If convicted of the charges, Manning, 24, could be sentenced to life in prison. Aiding the enemy is a capital offense, but Army prosecutors have said they will not seek the death penalty.

The slight soldier wore a dress uniform during the proceeding before military judge Col. Denise Lind. He sat at a table with his civilian attorney and two military attorneys, and spoke to affirm that he understood his rights and named the members of his defense team.

The sides are due to return to Fort Meade for a motions hearing on March 15.

Manning, who lived in Potomac and studied at Montgomery College before he enlisted in 2007, is accused of sending raw field reports from Iraq and Afghanistan, diplomatic cables from U.S. embassies around the world and a video of a U.S. helicopter attack in Baghdad to be published online by WikiLeaks.

A preliminary hearing at Fort Meade in December may have offered a preview of the legal strategies of both the government and Manning's defense team.

Prosecutors called computer forensic investigators who testified that materials uploaded to WikiLeaks came from computers on which Manning worked.

Manning's attorneys sought to portray him as a troubled young man who struggled with gender identity, was isolated from his fellow soldiers and should not have been given access to the classified materials.

Antiwar activists say the footage of the 2007 Apache helicopter attack, which left 12 dead, appears to show evidence of a war crime. In the video, released by WikiLeaks as "Collateral Murder," the American helicopter crew can be heard laughing and referring to Iraqis as "dead bastards."

If Manning released the materials, "he is a hero for blowing the whistle," Baltimore activist Max Obuszewski said Wednesday.

"If Manning had been a member of the U.S. Marine squad that admitted to systematically murdering two dozen innocent Iraqi men, women, and children in Haditha, Iraq, he'd be walking free today," Obuszewski said in a release. "Instead, he faces the real prospect of life in prison for telling the truth."

As Lind adjourned the proceeding Thursday, an audience member in the small courtroom asked aloud: "Isn't a soldier required to report a war crime?"

.......BY MIKE MCCONNELL, MICHAEL CHERTOFF AND WILLIAM LYNN

Only three months ago, we would have violated U.S. secrecy laws by sharing what we write here—even though, as a former director of national intelligence, secretary of homeland security, and deputy secretary of defense, we have long known it to be true. The Chinese government has a national policy of economic espionage in cyberspace.....

As Lind adjourned the proceeding Thursday, an audience member in the small courtroom asked aloud: "Isn't a soldier required to report a war crime?"

­Swedish FM vs WikiLeaks: Revenge is tweet
(RussiaToday.com, February 24, 2012)

Foreign Minister Carl Bildt has rejected allegations of being a long-running American influence agent, saying it is a part of an FM’s job “to inform other countries about sensitive issues.”

WikiLeaks has threatened to expose the foreign minister of Sweden as an American agent since the 1970s if Stockholm continues to pursue Julian Assange’s extradition for questioning over sexual assault allegations, informed Swedish tabloid Expressen on February 22.

An internal WikiLeaks memo reviewed by Expressen proposes to publish classified data, organize blockades of Swedish embassies and boycotts of Swedish companies around the world.

These tough measures are meant to help Julian Assange, whose legal battle with the British justice system over extradition to Sweden has entered the final stage.

“I cannot imagine what it's about. But let's see if they have something to publish,” Bildt told the press in London when asked about the expected exposure.

Earlier WikiLeaks stated it has details of the documents showing that Carl Bildt’s contact in the US administration was former US presidential adviser Karl Rove.

WikiLeaks believes that the documents it has in its possession “reveal that Bildt cooperated with the American administration in a way that violates Swedish law,” the whistle-blowing site told Expressen. They say the publication will force Carl Bildt to resign.

“It will be the end of his political career,” they promise.

Bildt waved off conspiracy schemes, saying “I know a lot of people around the world,” adding he is not worried about the documents WikiLeaks has.

Having waited for two days for the promised grilling, on Friday morning Carl Bildt tweeted “Another day and WikiLeaks are still refusing to release the documents they plan to use in their ‘smear campaign’ against Sweden.”

“I note the information in Expressen that WikiLeaks is preparing a smear campaign, you can yourself figure out what I think about it,” Bildt told media.

In his blog Carl Bildt challenged WikiLeaks to publish the “damning report" so that "When that happens, this part of their planned 'smear campaign' will quickly fall apart," Swedish FM wrote.

WikiLeaks is sure Stockholm has already struck a deal with Washington over Assange’s further extradition to the US once Sweden has got the whistleblower in its jurisdiction.

First and foremost, the US justice needs Assange to testify against former US soldier Bradley Manning, the man suspected passing hundreds of thousands of classified US documents and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. Quite possibly Assange will be charged with espionage if passed to the US justice.

First and foremost, the US justice needs Assange to testify against former US soldier Bradley Manning, the man suspected passing hundreds of thousands of classified US documents and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. Quite possibly Assange will be charged with espionage if passed to the US justice

WikiLeaks dumping secret intelligence emails
Updated February 27, 2012 13:10:06/ABC NEWS online


WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Photo: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is currently in Britain fighting extradition to Sweden. (AFP: Leon Neal)

Whistleblowing website WikiLeaks has begun publishing more than 5 million confidential emails from Texas-based intelligence firm Stratfor.

WikiLeaks says the emails - which it refers to as the 'Global Intelligence Files' - date from between July 2004 and December 2011.

"The emails show Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods," WikiLeaks said in a statement.

"The material shows how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients."

WikiLeaks says it has proof of the firm's confidential links to large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co and Lockheed Martin, as well as government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defence Intelligence Agency.

It says it has found evidence that Stratfor gave a complimentary membership to Pakistan general Hamid Gul, former head of Pakistan's ISI intelligence service, who, according to US diplomatic cables, planned an IED attack against international forces in Afghanistan in 2006.

WikiLeaks also alleges it has proof that Stratfor monitored and analysed the online activities of activists seeking redress for the 1984 Dow Chemical/Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, India.

"The Global Intelligence Files exposes how Stratfor has recruited a global network of informants who are paid via Swiss banks accounts and pre-paid credit cards," WikiLeaks said.

"Stratfor has a mix of covert and overt informants, which includes government employees, embassy staff and journalists around the world."

Stratfor, which was founded in 1996, describes itself as "a subscription-based provider of geopolitical analysis".

"Unlike traditional news outlets, Stratfor uses a unique, intelligence-based approach to gathering information via rigorous open-source monitoring and a global network of human sources," according to the Texas-based firm's website.

WikiLeaks says 25 media outlets - including Rolling Stone, The Hindu newspaper and Italy's La Repubblica - have been given access to the files and important revelations will be revealed over the coming weeks. ...<cont>

"The emails show Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods," WikiLeaks said in a statement.

"The material shows how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients."

WikiLeaks says it has proof of the firm's confidential links to large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co and Lockheed Martin, as well as government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defence Intelligence Agency. ......

WikiLeaks Is Running Out of Media Friends
(Adam Clark Estes, The Atlantic Wire, February 27, 2012)

When Julian Assange took the stage at the Frontline Club in London today, there were 25 media companies' logos behind his back. The New York TImes was not one of them. The unusual mix of media organizations helping to disseminate WikiLeaks' latest release reveals how much the WikiLeaks founder's behavior over the last year has alienated onetime mainstream media collaborators like The Times, The Guardian, and Der Spiegel.

Among the media organizations working with Assange this time around was everyone from Italy's L'Espresso to Chile's CIPER to Egypt's Al Masry Al Youm to India's The Hindu to Rolling Stone. Those news organs may not pack the same institutional power as WikiLeaks' previous partners, but Assange still managed to get some attention for his new data dump.

Most of the world's leading journalistic organizations and WikiLeaks' former partners were quite conspicuously absent from the conversation. This is to be expected since they're no longer friends. We've written before about how Assange doesn't get along with The Guardian, and The New York Times hasn't been shy about revealing its beef with the organization. Former executive editor Bill Keller even went so far as to write New York Times Magazine piece critical of Assange.

In addition to Assange's short speech at Monday's press event in London, one of the members of The Yes Men spoke about the revelations in the five million emails from the private security contractor Stratfor, which he called "a journalistic organization." In truth, Stratfor is an intelligence firm, sometimes referred to as a "shadow" extra-governmental CIA. Throughout the course of the two-hour long event at the Frontline Club, Assange piped in a number of guests from around the world and helped moderate a panel of journalists from new WikiLeaks partner publications in Spain, Italy, and the United States. Together, they talked about spies, the Internet, and the news.

…The emails show that in 2009 then-Goldman Sachs Managing Director Shea Morenz and Stratfor CEO George Friedman hatched an idea to “utilise the intelligence” it was pulling in from its insider network to start up a captive strategic investment fund. CEO George Friedman explained in a confidential August 2011 document, marked DO NOT SHARE OR DISCUSS : “What StratCap will do is use our Stratfor’s intelligence and analysis to trade in a range of geopolitical instruments, particularly government bonds, currencies and the like”. The emails show that in 2011 Goldman Sach’s Morenz invested “substantially” more than $4million and joined Stratfor’s board of directors. Throughout 2011, a complex offshore share structure extending as far as South Africa was erected, designed to make StratCap appear to be legally independent. But, confidentially, Friedman told StratFor staff : “Do not think of StratCap as an outside organisation. It will be integral… It will be useful to you if, for the sake of convenience, you think of it as another aspect of Stratfor and Shea as another executive in Stratfor… we are already working on mock portfolios and trades”. StratCap is due to launch in 2012.

At that time the chief executive of Stratfor made this statement: "God knows what a hundred employees writing endless emails might say that is embarrassing, stupid or subject to misinterpretation. ... As they search our emails for signs of a vast conspiracy, they will be disappointed."

What Did ‘Anonymous’ Steal from Stratfor? Security Firm Gives Precise Figures
(By Matt Peckham | Time.com | December 27, 2011)

Over 9,000 active credit cards, 27,000 phone numbers and 20,000 “easily cracked” passwords — that’s what hacktivist group Anonymous has released to date, after reportedly hacking international intelligence and threat analysis firm Stratfor, says a security firm.

The company that analyzed the data and came up with those figures is called Identity Finder — a New York City business that bills itself as “a leader in data loss prevention and identity theft prevention.”

“The hackers/breachers have released personal information for Stratfor subscribers whose first names begin with A through M; presumably N through Z will be released in the coming days,” wrote Identity Finder in a statement. “Breachers have also claimed to copy 2.7 million emails which have yet to be released.”

Of the data released in the A through M range, Identity Finder found 50,277 unique credit card numbers (9,651 not expired), 96,594 email addresses (47,680 unique), 27,537 phone numbers (25,680 unique) and 44,188 encrypted passwords (of which it says “roughly 50% could be easily cracked”). Of the decrypted passwords, Identity Finder reports that 73.7% were “weak,” 21.7% were “medium strength” and 4.6% were “strong” (as expected, part of the takeaway here is that consumer password construction — even by customers of a threat analysis company — remains abysmal). What’s more, the average decrypted password length was a trifling 7.1 characters long.

Identity Theft reports that 13,973 of the addresses “belonged to United States victims,” while the remaining addresses “belong to individuals from around the world.”

In the meantime, fallout from the breach continues as future data dumps loom: Earlier today, Stratfor warned its members that speaking out in support of the company could result in targeted personal attacks by hackers, but others have said the move may be a public relations stunt by Stratfor to deflect attention from the breach’s severity.