Thursday afternoon, CIA Director Mike Pompeo gave his remarks on what he views as an assault on the intelligence community by Julian Assange and his colleagues at WikiLeaks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2eE3WRS0R8
Pompeo explains that his reason for speaking is due to:
"[T]he false narratives that increasingly define our public discourse cannot be ignored. There are fictions out there that demean and distort the work and achievements of CIA and of the broader Intelligence Community."
He goes on to defend the CIA and their mission, claiming that they "steal secrets from foreign adversaries, hostile entities, and terrorist organizations...And we make no apologies for doing so. It’s hard stuff and we go at it hard."
His tone then turns to attacking Wikileaks and the likes, explaining "WikiLeaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service."
"It is time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is" he says, "a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia."
But really, the most startling part of Mr. Pompeo's speech, was his attack on free speech: "...We have to recognize that we can no longer allow Assange and his colleagues the latitude to use free speech values against us."
That is a dangerous statement.
How is Pompeo later in the speech able to claim "it is my sworn duty to uphold the Constitution" after just a few minutes prior he vowed an attack on the First Amendment?
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/852646452320972800
WikiLeaks couldn't help but point out additional hypocrisy in Pompeo's statements today, by sharing a tweet of his from July, 2016 in which Pompeo appears to use Wikileaks as evidence to confirm his own theories, saying: "Need further proof that the fix was in from Pres. Obama on down? BUSTED: 19,252 Emails from DNC Leaked by Wikileaks."
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/852631445369745409
It seems unlikely that WikiLeaks will be thwarted, but it appears free speech may be under attack for those who disagree with the CIA.
Image Source: Flickr
