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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: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday September 29 2021, @03:14PM
Thank you for that correction: Yes, it wasn't charges, it was an accusation that could have led to charges sometime down the road. The important thing was, they wanted the man in jail, largely for the contents of what he was reporting, never mind the First Amendment or EU Human Rights Conventions.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.