Pentagon tells WikiLeaks founder to “do the right thing”
The Pentagon urged WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Thursday to “do the right thing” and remove tens of thousands of classified documents about the war in Afghanistan, and return to the military thousands of others that it has not yet made public. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the website’s disclosure of a six-year archive of nearly 77,000 documents gave the Taliban and other militant groups insights into American military tactics and techniques. But Pentagon officials are especially concerned about 15,000 additional documents WikiLeaks has so far withheld to remove identifying information. A team of 80 analysts from the military and the FBI are currently vetting the documents for damaging information, including whether Afghan informants were identified and could be at risk of reprisals. The team is expected to grow to 125 people and has conducted about 400 “key word” searches through the 77,000 disclosed documents.