Two of us, Ellsberg and Noam Chomsky, testified for Assange at his extradition hearing last year. In Ellsberg’s words then, the WikiLeaks publications that Assange is being charged for are “amongst the most important truthful revelations of hidden criminal state behavior that have been made public in U.S. history.” The American public “needed urgently to know what was being done routinely in their name, and there was no other way for them to learn it than by unauthorized disclosure.”

    • mars296@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      No ot wasn’t. The break in was not in the name of the US Government. It was in the name of a presidential candidate.

      • pjhenry1216@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        1 year ago

        The information given to the reporters was confidential information. I don’t know how to tell you this other than that confidential information held by the government is a state secret. There’s no actual term “state secret”. There’s just public and non-public information and various tiers within that framework.

        • mars296@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          Yeah you make good points. I think Watergate is still very different because the initial crime wasn’t on behalf of or sanctioned by the government. The wider cover-up was to an extent. I think there is some gray area too. Like you say there is no “state secret”. But when is confidential information held by the government vs individuals within the government holding confidential information? An individual within the government can keep a secret from both the broader government and the public.

          • pjhenry1216@kbin.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            The information Felt released wasn’t just something only he knew. It’s simply that it wasn’t enough on its own and no one was chasing down the proper leads due to the coverup in play. The White House is the government. The administration partook in the coverup. Its just fewer people in the government being part of a coverup. Anything that’s illegal is still illegal. The government is behind both, it’s simply a matter of how much and what parts of the government.