Michael Lind: Yes, Julian Assange Actually is a Criminal
[Michael Lind is Policy Director of the Economic Growth Program at the New America Foundation and is the author of "The Next American Nation: The New Nationalism and the Fourth American Revolution."]
In my previous column for Salon, I cited the infatuation of many on the left with Julian Assange of WikiLeaks as evidence of a disturbingly casual approach to the rule of law among Americans of all political persuasions, along with the U.S. policy of targeted assassinations, preventive war and widespread toleration for illegal immigration and the use of offshore jurisdictions for tax avoidance.
Elsewhere in Salon, Glenn Greenwald took exception to my inclusion of the WikiLeaks founder in my list of scofflaws, claiming that Assange has committed no crime. Let me explain why I believe the campaign of Assange and his associates to obtain and publish vast amounts of classified material from the U.S. and other governments, as well as stolen private information from non-governmental organizations and individuals, is neither legal nor legitimate.
This controversy has nothing to do with views of current U.S. foreign policy. I denounced the Iraq War in advance in print, on the radio and on TV, and after it began in two books. I favor rapid disengagement from Afghanistan and a far more modest American military role in the world. And I agree with the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan that much, perhaps most, government secrecy is unnecessary and counterproductive. But everyone other than anarchists who oppose government of any kind must acknowledge the need for diplomats and military officers, as well as civilian officials, to be able to engage in confidential communications among themselves and with foreign governments without fear of unauthorized publicity. Even the government of an isolationist America would insist on that prerogative.
The U.S. government is reportedly thinking about prosecuting Assange under the Espionage Act of 1917, which makes it a crime to obtain or possess classified national security information, and/or the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which makes it a crime for hackers to obtain unauthorized information from any source, public or private. Assange’s defenders sneer at the Espionage Act as one of a number of repressive measures enacted by Congress and the Wilson administration during World War I. I'm no defender of World War I-era paranoia, as my German-born great-grandfather was a victim of it. However, if the Espionage Act did not exist, I would favor passage of some sort of reasonable act to protect legitimate government secrets, because democratic republics have a right to protect themselves from genuine spies and real traitors, as well as vengeful employees. If the perennial presidential candidate of the Socialist Party, Eugene Debs, whom the Wilson administration imprisoned for opposing the draft, had been elected president, I doubt that America's socialist commander in chief and chief diplomat would have looked kindly on unauthorized publication of classified government secrets....
Read entire article at Salon
In my previous column for Salon, I cited the infatuation of many on the left with Julian Assange of WikiLeaks as evidence of a disturbingly casual approach to the rule of law among Americans of all political persuasions, along with the U.S. policy of targeted assassinations, preventive war and widespread toleration for illegal immigration and the use of offshore jurisdictions for tax avoidance.
Elsewhere in Salon, Glenn Greenwald took exception to my inclusion of the WikiLeaks founder in my list of scofflaws, claiming that Assange has committed no crime. Let me explain why I believe the campaign of Assange and his associates to obtain and publish vast amounts of classified material from the U.S. and other governments, as well as stolen private information from non-governmental organizations and individuals, is neither legal nor legitimate.
This controversy has nothing to do with views of current U.S. foreign policy. I denounced the Iraq War in advance in print, on the radio and on TV, and after it began in two books. I favor rapid disengagement from Afghanistan and a far more modest American military role in the world. And I agree with the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan that much, perhaps most, government secrecy is unnecessary and counterproductive. But everyone other than anarchists who oppose government of any kind must acknowledge the need for diplomats and military officers, as well as civilian officials, to be able to engage in confidential communications among themselves and with foreign governments without fear of unauthorized publicity. Even the government of an isolationist America would insist on that prerogative.
The U.S. government is reportedly thinking about prosecuting Assange under the Espionage Act of 1917, which makes it a crime to obtain or possess classified national security information, and/or the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which makes it a crime for hackers to obtain unauthorized information from any source, public or private. Assange’s defenders sneer at the Espionage Act as one of a number of repressive measures enacted by Congress and the Wilson administration during World War I. I'm no defender of World War I-era paranoia, as my German-born great-grandfather was a victim of it. However, if the Espionage Act did not exist, I would favor passage of some sort of reasonable act to protect legitimate government secrets, because democratic republics have a right to protect themselves from genuine spies and real traitors, as well as vengeful employees. If the perennial presidential candidate of the Socialist Party, Eugene Debs, whom the Wilson administration imprisoned for opposing the draft, had been elected president, I doubt that America's socialist commander in chief and chief diplomat would have looked kindly on unauthorized publication of classified government secrets....