Demonstration in London against the extradition of Julian Assange to the USA. Photo: Shutterstock/Jose Corrales Bermejo
Julian Paul Assange, an Australian editor, publisher, and activist, is the mastermind behind the creation of WikiLeaks in 2006.
Assange became a global figure in 2010 when WikiLeaks released a collection of documents from Chelsea Manning, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst. These leaks included a video of a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, military reports from the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts, and U.S. diplomatic messages.
Assange has been recognized with various awards for his work in publishing and journalism. In June 2024, he reached an agreement with U.S. prosecutors, resulting in his prompt release. He then went back to Australia on 26 June 2024.
Assange has been responsible for some of the most important and contentious revelations in recent history. Check out these top 10 Julian Assange exposés, arranged by date.
WikiLeaks dropped a video called “Collateral Murder” on 5 April 2010, revealing a U.S. helicopter assault in Baghdad from 2007 that resulted in the deaths of 12-18 individuals, including two Reuters journalists. The video, verified as real by a U.S. military representative, ignited a worldwide discussion on the legality and ethics of the attack.
In July 25, 2010, WikiLeaks shared more than 92,000 documents with The Guardian, The New York Times, and Der Spiegel, detailing the Afghanistan War between 2004 and 2009. These documents exposed cases of friendly fire and civilian deaths. Assange likened the impact of this leak to the Pentagon Papers from the 1970s. Later on, WikiLeaks uploaded a 1.4 GB “insurance file” to the Afghan War Diary page, believed to be a precautionary measure in case of any threats to WikiLeaks or Assange.
In October 2010, WikiLeaks dropped a bombshell by releasing almost 400,000 documents connected to the Iraq War. At first, Assange denied any involvement in the timing of the release, but on 21 October, The Guardian got hold of the documents. Al Jazeera took the lead in analyzing and publishing the documents, which sparked a worldwide frenzy of articles based on the information. Interestingly, the release happened at the same time as the main WikiLeaks website made its comeback.
On November 22, 2010, WikiLeaks teased a big document dump, which ended up being diplomatic cables. The New York Times and The Washington Post released these cables on November 28, revealing 94 documents related to Pakistan. This leak led the UK government to issue a DA-Notice to newspapers, asking for a heads-up before publishing.
Starting from April 24, 2011, WikiLeaks, in collaboration with various prominent news outlets, released a total of 779 confidential files regarding detainees held at Guantánamo Bay. These files, labeled as “secret” and NOFORN (not intended for foreign nationals), encompassed evaluations, interviews, and internal communications authored by the Pentagon’s Joint Task Force Guantanamo.
Starting from 27th February 2012, WikiLeaks kicked off the release of “The Global Intelligence Files.” This treasure trove contained a whopping 5,000,000 emails from the secretive intelligence company Stratfor, spanning from July 2004 to December 2011. These emails laid bare the inner workings of Stratfor, revealing their tactics and the people they focused on for their clients.
In November 2014, the “Guardians of Peace” hacked into the Sony Archives. On 16 April 2015, WikiLeaks made the hacked Sony Archives searchable by releasing them to the public. This leak contained a massive amount of information, including over 30,000 documents and 173,000 emails from Sony Pictures Entertainment.
On June 23, 2015, WikiLeaks disclosed that the NSA had conducted surveillance on the French government, which included Presidents François Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Jacques Chirac. Additional documents released in July 2015 exposed NSA spying on German ministries and Brazilian government officials, such as President Dilma Rousseff.
In July 22, 2016, WikiLeaks published around 20,000 emails and more than 8,000 attachments from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), revealing a preference for Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. The Mueller investigation then charged 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking and releasing these emails.
Starting on March 7, 2017, WikiLeaks kicked off the release of “Vault 7,” a collection of files that exposed the electronic spying and cyber warfare capabilities of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) between 2013 and 2016. These leaks shed light on the CIA’s proficiency in infiltrating a wide range of devices and operating systems, such as cars, smart TVs, web browsers, smartphones, and computer systems. An internal audit conducted by the CIA revealed that 91 out of the 500 malware tools employed by its Operations Support Branch had been compromised.
