Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks and perennial thorn in the side of U.S. intelligence, once again managed to stir the pot—this time by outing former CIA Director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Central Intelligence Agency itself. Assange, no stranger to controversy, has been a prime target for the CIA ever since WikiLeaks started spilling state secrets by the bucketload. But when it came to exposing some of the agency’s darker plans, things got personal—real fast.
Let’s rewind to 2017, when WikiLeaks published the “Vault 7” documents, a treasure trove of classified CIA hacking tools, malware, and techniques that revealed just how far the agency was willing to go in cyberspace. Think of it as the CIA’s playbook for spying and cyber-espionage, and Assange just handed it to the world. This, as you might imagine, didn’t sit well with Washington or with Mike Pompeo, who was head of the CIA at the time.
Pompeo, already known for his hawkish stance on national security, allegedly green-lit a variety of clandestine operations against Assange. This wasn’t your run-of-the-mill spy vs. leaker drama. According to reports that came out in 2021, the CIA under Pompeo was mulling over some seriously extreme measures—like kidnapping or even assassinating Assange while he was holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. That’s right, they were allegedly considering turning a leaker into a ghost. Talk about defending “national security” with a hammer instead of a scalpel.
Julian Assange outs Mike Pompeo and the CIA. This is huge. pic.twitter.com/JWjZ0wb5zc
— Freyja™ (@FreyjaTarte) October 1, 2024
These revelations claim that Pompeo’s CIA went so far as to explore scenarios that would make a Hollywood thriller seem tame. The agency supposedly ramped up surveillance on Assange, not just inside the embassy, but also on his associates and journalists who were in contact with WikiLeaks. Pompeo, for his part, didn’t exactly deny the plans but dismissed them as “fantasy” in later interviews. Of course, when you’re caught with your hand in the cookie jar, a little dismissiveness goes a long way.
Assange’s ability to expose these cloak-and-dagger operations leaves us with more questions than answers. How far is too far in the name of national security? And should we trust an intelligence agency willing to bend—or break—the rules when it suits their agenda? Assange may be holed up in a London prison, awaiting extradition to the U.S., but he continues to cast a long shadow over Washington’s power players, Pompeo included. In the end, it’s hard not to see this saga as the ultimate clash between transparency and power.
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