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from the They-wouldn't-do-THAT...-would-they? dept.
CIA developed plans to kidnap Julian Assange, per report
The Trump administration's CIA actively developed plans to kidnap or assassinate Wikileaks founder Julian Assange during his seclusion in London's Ecuadorian embassy, according to a detailed new report from Yahoo News. Scenarios included abducting Assange from the embassy, intercepting a Russian effort to extract him, or an outright assassination attempt. While none of the operations were ever approved, they paint an alarming portrait of intelligence agencies' ongoing obsession with Wikileaks and its controversial founder.
As sources, Yahoo cites conversations with more than 30 former US officials. Among those, eight provided details on plans to kidnap Assange.
The report mostly details operations developed during the Trump administration, which placed fewer restraints on the CIA and was less troubled by the implications of launching direct operations against a figure many saw as a journalist. The issue became particularly heated in March of 2017, when Wikileaks published a catalog of hacking tools developed by the CIA. After that, "WikiLeaks was a complete obsession of Pompeo's," a source told Yahoo.
Also at The Guardian and The Hill.
Previously: Wikileaks and CIA Hacking Tools -- Security Firms Assess Impact as Tech Companies Offered Access
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Captival on Tuesday September 28 2021, @09:40PM (1 child)
Then surely the Obama Administration 2.0 that's in charge now will rush to release him then, right? Any second now.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday September 28 2021, @09:59PM
Just as soon as releasing him will get them more political capital than leaving his status at status quo.
Unfortunately, most people react poorly to change, so a change in status for Assenage will upset more people than it will please - so like most things, the politicians will ignore it.
As for the CIA making plans to kill him, newsflash: that's their job, to make these kinds of plans, to present possible scenarios, even if the scenarios are unlikely to be executed the options need to be planned out, analyzed, weighed and then someone like W: the deciderer, will decide which way to go - hopefully based on the best information and projections of the outcome.
The military has plans for how to blow up everything from the Kremlin to obscure towns all over the globe, what resources and time it will take to gain control of various targets, cities, etc. that's their job too.
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