1
Let me
assert my firm belief...
that the only thing
we have to fear...
is fear itself.
That's one
small step for man...
This is Walter Cronkite
in our newsroom.
President Kennedy
died at 1 p.m.,
some 38 minutes ago.
...who are trying to make
a boogey out of us...
Go at throttle up.
This vehicle has exploded.
They are here in the thousands.
They are here
in the tens of thousands.
Diana,
Princess of Wales, has died.
This just in.
Television viewers
across the country
watch in astonishment...
- Oh, my goodness.
- Oh, God.
There was
a huge explosion sound.
Der Spiegel
is begging for more time.
The Times wants to go.
Let me talk to Rosenbach.
Christ,
it's like herding cats.
No, I don't want
to have to scroll down
for the Task Force 373 story.
Holger, I've got Nick.
Ah, great. Five minutes?
- We have to go.
- Five more minutes.
Yes, Bill, I know. But Nick
just spoke to Rosenbach.
They need at least
another few minutes.
No more delays, Alan.
You said twelve o' clock.
I know, but the point
is to publish together.
You know the Germans.
They need to dot all the "I's"
and cross all the "T's."
Go. Now.
It's live.
The Times is live.
Well, there you go.
Patience, humility,
all American virtues.
Yes, Bill, thanks very much
for not giving a shit.
Go.
Of course, our top
story this morning...
the White House
blasting the release
of over 90,000
U.S. military records.
It came from an organization
that didn't exist
five years ago, WikiLeaks.
The New York Times,
Britain's Guardian,
and Germany's Der Spiegel...
coordinated in publishing...
what some are comparing
to the Pentagon Papers,
back in the Nixon years.
They include
civilian casualties
and special forces
killing squads.
The most serious allegation
is that some soldiers
committed war crimes.
I know
much has been written...
as a result of the
substantial leak
of documents from Afghanistan.
What is this website,
"WikiLeaks"?
And who is Julian Assange?
Assange has made WikiLeaks
a global force.
And for better or worse...
exposed what he considers
some of the world's
darkest secrets.
The eyes of the world
are on the Frontline Club
in London.
Julian Assange is a man
without a home who lives
the life of the hunted...
changing his appearance,
using false names...
and encrypted cell phones
to avoid detection.
The U.S. government argues
there's nothing noble
about Assange.
A U.S. official describes him
as very Anti-American.
Come on!
It's Daniel.
Shit.
Uh, good morning.
I assume most of you
have read, uh,
this morning's papers. Um...
This is...
The Guardian. Um...
Fourteen... Fourteen pages
about this topic.
Also, concurrently,
Der Spiegel...
The New York Times...
These are revelations which
pierce the veil of secrecy
surrounding this war...
painting a more complete
portrait of events
we thought we understood...
but we may not
have known at all.
Mr. Berg.
Have you seen this?
They're pouring out of
every printer in the office.
I guess someone's pissed
you made New Year's Eve
a work day.
Well, as our resident
computer genius...
could you please find out
who that someone is?
Whoever it was disguised
his IP address.
According to this, the print
jobs are coming from...
your computer.
It's thousands of pages.
You'll have to manually reboot
it if you want it to stop.
Where are you going? I need
you to finish the Opel job.
I costed out GM, too.
In case you need something
to do on New Year's Eve.
Charlie in maintenance said
you left this by the scanner.
Happy New Year.
Daniel Berg. I volunteered
to sell shirts tomorrow.
We must be
on the schedule somewhere.
My associate Jay Lim sent in
our proposals months ago.
I'll be back in a minute.
We didn't get anything
from Wikileakers.
"WikiLeaks."
Wiki-whatever.
This is ridiculous.
Who's in charge here?
- Julian?
- Huh?
It's Daniel. Daniel Berg.
I contacted you over chat.
Daniel. Thank God.
I've got people waiting, here.
Can you help me
with this prick?
His organization is super cool.
They've been doing
crazy shit in Kenya.
The least you could do
is put us on your program.
The small conference rooms
are all booked.
What about the auditorium?
It's empty until the talk
about hacking video games.
Okay, you can have
that for half an hour.
- Thank you.
- But nobody's gonna show up
unless you print some flyers.
Well, that shouldn't
be a problem.
Daniel...
God forbid
we give out free toner
to human rights activists.
Sorry.
I totally spaced out
on that proposal.
Mind you,
I was a bit busy in Nairobi.
Oh, by the way,
that report we leaked...
shifted voting 10%
in the presidential election.
You might want to mention that
when you introduce me.
Sure.
Shredded my power cord
in Mombasa.
I assume the club won't mind
making a small donation.
I'll pay for the cord if
you actually get it to work.
Well, when you're taking on
global corruption...
you need a few super powers.
Et voila!
I'm a mathematician
by training.
When I was a grad student
in Melbourne...
I became interested in...
Okay,
send us the camera now!
- ...how...
- Excuse me, a little bit more!
I became
interested in information...
Okay, switching!
...and how it flows
through society.
- And how...
when new information
comes to light,
it can bring about
great change.
Excuse me.
Two people...
and a secret.
The beginning of any conspiracy
and of all corruption.
Otto...
- Otto, what is he doing?
- And as it grows...
...more lies, deceits.
More people...
and more secrets.
But...
if we can find one moral man...
one whistleblower...
Someone willing to expose
all these secrets.
That man could topple the most
repressive of regimes.
What the hell?
Otto, my talk is in 10 minutes!
And there's the problem.
He just ruined
my entire presentation!
Retribution.
Whistleblowers are
afraid to come forward
because they fear retribution.
But what if we could
remove that fear?
Twenty years ago,
I bought my first modem
and joined a legion.
Cypherpunks, fighting
for freedom, for privacy...
for the right to remain
concealed in clouds of code.
Today's hackers
take it for granted,
but they surf the Internet...
because of the programs
we created to hide data...
to... to hide our identities.
Even then,
I knew this technology...
could hold the key to a whole
new form of social justice.
Hundreds of volunteers work
on the documents we are sent.
But we've honed
our technology...
to a point that
even I don't know
the identity of our sources.
And if the whistleblower's
identity is secret...
then he has nothing to fear.
As Oscar Wilde said...
"Give a man a mask, and
he will tell you the truth."
Sorry, it's going to be
a few minutes.
We had some
technical difficulties.
Good talk, huh?
You think so?
People anonymously
sharing secrets...
I mean, isn't that why
we tore down the Wall?
Believe me, no one
is interested in your secrets.
Yours, on the other hand...
It was great. It's a shame
the turnout wasn't better.
One convert at a time.
By the way, I can soup up
the graphics if you want.
What's wrong with
the ones I've got?
Nothing.
I'm sure they would have
blown people away in the '80s.
Hey...
do you want to check out
the talk on microcontrollers?
The guy who invented TV-B-Gone
is speaking.
It's a remote. You walk
into a bar and turn off...
all the TVs.
Don't you get bored
spending your time
with all these wankers?
Building antennae
out of Pringles packets...
reading Neuromancer
and playing Call of Cthulhu.
What a waste!
Capable generous men,
men of purpose.
That's what the world needs.
All this?
It's not what we fought for.
Shit. Come on.
Hurry up, Daniel.
- Where are we going?
- To church.
A government
destroyed by tyranny...
rebuilt under a glass dome
so the whole world
could look in.
There's an ideal to aspire to.
Just look at it, Daniel.
Risen from the ashes.
A whole city,
once ruled by fascists,
now overrun by artists,
by anarchists...
and crows and snowstorms...
and transparency.
My father took me to the dome
when they first built it.
I was 13.
He wasn't quite so eloquent.
Yeah, well, when I was 13,
my mum started
dating this guy...
from a nasty Australian cult
called The Family.
They believed in blue auras
and cleansing souls...
and the strict discipline
of children.
Severe beatings...
starvation diets...
regular closings
of psychiatric drugs.
My mum knew
the guy was a wanker...
but by the time
she came to her senses
they had a kid together and...
We spent the next three
years on the run.
They chased us
all over the country.
That's terrifying.
Why do you think
my hair is white?
Come on.
I want to show you something.
It's called the Tacheles.
It's an artists' squat.
They were going to tear it
down in the '90s...
but some painters occupied it.
Cool.
Listen, I better get to work.
Now?
Life on the run,
Aussie jet lag.
You stop distinguishing
between night and day.
Sorry.
So what are you working on?
Look, today was cool,
but these are
sensitive documents.
People's lives are at stake.
You can trust me.
Yes, and quiet.
There's a new leak
on the submission platform.
In my twenties, I created
a tool called Rubberhose.
It hid sensitive information
beneath layers and layers
of fake data.
WikiLeaks is based
on the same idea.
Take any message.
"Are you safe?"
"Are you safe?"
We constantly upload
fake data from fake sources...
to make it impossible
to monitor our real sources.
And their very presence
is infinitely deniable.
The system makes
leaks untraceable.
They simply turn up
on the submission platform.
Ever heard of Julius Baer?
It's a big
Swiss Bank, right?
Huge.
Manages 400 billion dollars
for the ultra-rich.
It uses offshore secrecy laws
to hide money for fat cats...
wealthy assholes in Germany,
Switzerland, U.K.
The leak is from
someone inside the bank?
I don't know.
See the beauty of it?
Let me guess. Secret plans
for the revolution?
Jay Lim and the volunteers
in Switzerland
will analyze the docs...
but I need you to verify
that they're real.
The metadata should contain
a list of authors.
Extract it and confirm that
these people work at the bank.
What? Did you think
we just threw what we got up
on the website?
No, but...
you're just giving me the docs?
You said I could trust you.
You can.
I know.
I'm a good judge of character.
Stay offline when you're
working on the docs.
And buy yourself a cryptophone.
Julius Bar Bank,
Ralf Zilke's office.
I'm sorry, I must have
the wrong extension.
What division is this?
Personal Wealth Management.
Who were you looking for?
I was actually looking
for Ms. Leisal Grop.
Ms. Grop is down the hall
in Client Services.
Can I transfer you?
Yes, please.
Thank you.
What are you doing in here?
Um...
Sensitive research.
You're playing
World of Warcraft aren't you?
We're investigating corruption
in a Swiss Bank.
Of course.
Well, then I guess
I can cover for you.
I worked for these
assholes for years...
before I understood the extent
of the deception.
It's a massive tax dodge.
Last year, those diagrams...
cheated your country alone
out of 30 billion
in tax revenues.
And you'll explain them to us?
You understand I won't
just be exposing the bank.
They have hundreds of clients
from New York to Moscow...
who will go to great lengths
to hold on to their money.
We understand the risks.
We've got incredible
infrastructure.
Hundreds of volunteers,
people who've dealt
with these threats.
Our process is totally secure.
We don't even know
your real name.
You're damn right.
I'll explain the documents,
but you never met me...
and when the shit comes down,
it's on your house.
Are we clear, Mr...
Schmitt. Daniel Schmitt.
The bank has a huge network.
Right, I'm sure.
They've got billions of
dollars buried in the Caymans.
Well... Yeah,
but by this time tomorrow
the whole world's
gonna know about it.
And I can tell you,
the response to this...
is gonna be
absolutely colossal.
We're gonna nail
those bastards.
You know,
our friend was pretty jittery.
Of course he was.
Hey, Julian, let's go.
How fast can you get
Bellman a summary?
I'll stay up until it's done.
All right, Daniel. Remember,
courage is contagious.
They marched from
the townships, from the slums.
Opposition supporters
determined
that this would be the day...
they would expose
Kenya's elections as a sham.
Delivering an empathic
message...
to the president whose
reelection they reject...
and the outside world.
But this was what
they discovered.
Riot police with orders that
no mass demonstration
was to be allowed.
This was not a day for debate.
The argument,
settled decisively.
Ralf Zilke's office.
- Mr. Zilke?
- Yeah.
I'm sorry,
I just got an odd call
from the tech department.
I sent you the link.
They say there's a report
on this website.
Get me Friedrich.
And wake up our lawyers
in California.
And in New York.
And London.
So, their lawyers
are threatening you?
Julian says you can spend
your life in cushy cubicles
or you can march.
You can breathe the tear gas
and brave the truncheons or...
Take a girl to dinner?
Hey.
Hey.
Sorry, I didn't want
to wake you up.
It's okay.
I've just never had a guy
try to sneak out
of his own apartment.
The bank got a judge
in California
- to shut down our site.
- What?
I thought the Americans
put free speech up there
with mom and apple pie.
So did we.
Julian wants to meet
right away.
You know, this isn't how
I imagined our first, um...
How did you imagine it?
Uh...
Do you have a cryptophone?
Uh... No.
But that might be
the best excuse
I've ever heard
for not calling.
We've got to get
the story out
on blogs, Twitter,
they're defrauding the world.
- We can't let them do this.
- Exactly.
It's impossible that
one judge in California
can make it all disappear.
It's out now.
Well, remember what
Solzhenitsyn said.
"No one can bar
the road to truth."
And Solzhenitsyn
didn't even have Twitter.
I mean, whoever thought that
we'd need extra servers...
to fight censorship attacks
from the bastion
of free speech.
I sent leaks to our
mirror sites. You should...
Having fun making history
instead of reading about it?
Yeah. And there's a new WIRED
blog you should post as well.
Let's have a look.
Yeah, but if
Julius Bar really believes
that censoring one website...
will solve their problems...
they just don't understand
how information flows
in the 21st century.
I mean, look...
Our mirror sites
make it impossible...
for the bank to put the genie
back in the bottle.
Of course,
we're happy that the EFF
and the ACLU are behind us.
But to be honest,
the court of public opinion...
has already ruled in our favor.
Some French hackers
donated domains.
Mmm.
Send the links to Bellman,
he'll blast the LISTSERV.
Yeah, no.
But, with an organization
the size and scale
of WikiLeaks...
grassroots support is vital.
Move the U.S. primaries
to page three
to make room
for the Diana inquest.
Yes, yes, yes.
Diana still sells newspapers.
Can't afford reporters?
Grab a story off the wire...
give it a little scrub,
drop it in the paper.
Twenty-first century
churnalism at its finest.
Is this how
you're chatting up the totty
in your golden years?
Well, I certainly
can't impress them...
with some of the stories
rattling around
the mainstream media
echo chamber.
The women I meet
are smart enough to know
what they're missing out on.
I assume you're gonna tell us
what that is?
I'll leave that to Mr. Assange
and his merry band
of programmers.
We have to help them, Alan.
The Guardian,
The Times, CBS are all linking
to our mirror sites.
Listen to this.
"The Bank's injunction
has brought an obscure group
"of dreamers to prominence...
"paradoxically generating
more attention...
"for their apparently
uncensorable leaking machine.
"And the bank's clients
may now face prosecution
"in Germany, the US..."
Can you believe it?
Actual justice
for those assholes.
That's great.
That's great.
Wow.
The judge must have lifted
the injunction.
Look, we're back online.
Holy shit.
- We won.
- Mmm-hmm.
We took down
a billion-dollar bank.
- This is crazy.
- I know.
We have to celebrate.
Yeah, we should, uh...
We should...
I don't know,
order some beers or something.
No, with everyone.
With Bellman, Jay Lim,
everybody else.
This was a team effort.
We should get on Skype
or something.
Oh, I don't know.
It's quite late, actually.
Come on. I just got
an email from Bellman.
And I was chatting with
Jay Lim 15 minutes ago.
Okay, it's probably time that
you met everyone face-to-face.
Maybe not in here.
Let's go inside.
I don't get it.
It says I called...
Are you Jay Lim?
- And Bellman?
- Yep.
How many volunteers do we have?
Hundreds.
We have hundreds of volunteers.
What?
We have hundreds
of email addresses.
That's not the same thing.
Look, every startup
exaggerates its size.
Otherwise,
why would people leak us
confidential information?
Two freaks
with a single server?
We only have one sewer?
Hmm, not as far as the outside
world is concerned, no.
Look, Castro started
a revolution with 82 men.
It does not matter
how small you are...
as long as you have faith
and a plan of action.
I lied to dozens of reporters.
- Pff.
- Our source at Julius Bar.
Necessary fictions.
If Julius Bar knew that
they were up against
an army of two...
What? They would rub us out?
They're a bank,
they're not the mob.
Why have you been
using an alias, then?
Come on, Daniel.
It's a hack,
an inelegant solution.
It could've been so simple.
I've got a hundred friends
I could have called.
This is bullshit!
Friends, you can call friends.
Okay, I've got to...
show you something.
Where is it?
Where the hell is it?
Open it.
Read it. Read what's inside.
There were three of us.
Mendax, Trax, Prime Suspect.
Three boys with cartoon names,
off on a series
of harmless adventures.
Subversives, one and all.
And when the federal police
finally caught up with us...
Trax pled guilty...
and Prime Suspect, he turned
Crown Witness against me.
I remember waiting for that
verdict in this little room...
and pacing backwards
and forwards
in a figure eight
like a demented bee.
And I knew what life would
be like in a tiny cell and...
Stressful.
For real, why my hair
turned white.
You don't get far in this
world by relying on others.
People...
People are loyal until
it seems opportune not to be.
The tyrants we're up against
have men, money and guns...
and I don't have an army
to fight them with.
All I've got is a website,
a couple of fake
email addresses and...
And you.
Do I have you?
The firewall
of Chinese censorship
was punctured this week...
as WikiLeaks
published 35 videos
of the Tibetan protest...
which quickly went viral.
Following the fire
at the Monju reactor...
officials played down
the extent of the damage...
and denied the existence
of any footage
of the sodium spill.
The video, now streaming
on the WikiLeaks site.
The documents,
the so-called
Bibles of Scientology...
have been collected
and published on WikiLeaks...
and they do little to change
the minds of skeptics.
And they had elected a fellow
by the name of Xemu...
uh, could be
spelled X-E-M-U...
to the Supreme Rulah,
and they were about
to un-elect him.
I mean, this guy founded
a goddamn religion.
It's gobsmacking, isn't it?
We're trying to expose
what the members
have to go through.
Um, there are memos on the
introspection rundowns, uh...
forced isolation, you know,
regulation of meals...
Six Apart would love to do
a piece on this, sir.
Do you have a French spokesman
I can follow up with in Paris?
The hallowed Guardian,
gracing us with their presence.
Look, a young Woodward
and Bernstein.
Excuse me.
Now look at this.
Hustling for a story,
trying to get the world
to pay attention.
I should be working for him.
At the rate
they're sacking journalists,
you might not have a choice.
It sounds like you're trying
to put us out of business.
I just want you to do
your job properly.
If you can't, someone needs
to pick up the slack.
Oh, is that what you're doing?
Look, anyone can take
a bundle of information...
and toss it up on a website
and call it news.
And people buy our papers
for something a little
more discerning.
People are still
buying your paper?
Look, look, look, gentlemen,
we're on the same page.
This is citizen journalism,
Ian.
It's like a new nervous system.
Looks like it's a bit twitchy.
Yeah, well,
getting 10,000 hits an hour
can do that to you.
By the way,
how is your website doing?
Yes, come on.
We're down again.
We need to add new servers.
Pff.!
Well, that's the price you pay
for giving the world
news for free.
There ain't no money in it.
I've got a few
thousand Euros saved up.
That's a half-dozen
machines on eBay.
What?
Are we not inspired,
men of purpose?
Capable, generous men?
Ah.
it doesn't exactly look
like a data center.
Hey.
Hey.
Nice. You know
the way to my heart, huh?
Long trip-
Julian, meet Marcus,
the second greatest hacker
in the world.
How are you?
Fine.
Okay, uh,
just hook it up right there,
next to the other old IBMs.
And do me a favor,
take off all the tags...
because I don't want to know
which one it is.
You want to protect us
from yourself?
Well, plausible deniability
is never a bad thing, right?
Especially when there might
be jackboots at the door.
A man who understands security.
I'm just basically
following the tradition
of some excellent hackers.
One in particular
who went by this curious name.
Something out of Horace...
splendide mendax, noble liar.
I'm sorry but it's just,
you know...
the way Daniel talks,
I suspected
an illustrious past.
So I did some digging.
Wow. Hacking NASA.
Impressive. MILNET.
You hacked
the U.S. Defense Network?
It, uh, was a long time ago.
Lots of backdoors,
it really wasn't
that difficult.
Delightfully deceiving.
Just like your name.
And your, uh,
robust infrastructure.
No offense,
but any leet hack could see
that your tech was junk.
So, good thing
you're adding servers.
Mmm.
Uh... Your cows seem
a little depressed.
Do you milk those yourself
or get other people
to do it for you?
Sometimes.
Yeah.
He can do some coding.
I don't want you to let him
on the primary server.
Marcus just wants
to be involved.
He's a bit of a legend
in the club.
- Hmm.
- He could be a big help.
Yeah, well, people with
that much experience
tend to have a mind
of their own.
Holy shit.
The new server
is already working.
We've got a ton of new traffic.
Look, there's at least
half a dozen new leaks.
This is a Jihadist
training manual.
- Gang wars in the U.S. Army.
- Wow.
A list of British National
Party members.
Shit.
It's thousands of neo-Nazis,
right in the heart of London.
Three thousand kilometers?
Where were you?
It's none of our business.
Could you mind
your own business?
Mr. Berg.
- Hey.
- You're alive?
And starving.
The British press is going nuts
over the National Party
member list.
People are donating money.
Not a lot, but some.
And we're getting more leaks.
Toxic dumping
in the Ivory Coast,
corruption in Kosovo.
What? You don't like it?
Mmm! It's delicious.
It's just a bit cold, but...
Yes, it's been sitting there
for an hour.
I'm sorry. I didn't hear you.
It's just the addresses
I don't get.
What?
The National Party members.
I mean, those people
should be exposed...
but you published
their personal information.
Phone numbers, home addresses.
They were in the documents.
Yes, but why not cut them out?
They have families, children.
Someone could get hurt.
Editing reflects bias.
Our sources, the people
on the site, they trust us...
because we don't
screw with the documents.
As Julian says...
"Free people
must have knowledge."
Or, as Orwell says,
"Big Brother is watching."
Is this because
I stayed in on Friday?
I couldn't care less
about Friday.
I had a perfectly good time
with Nik and Claudia...
despite the fact
that Nik tried to get me
to go home with him again.
Oh.
Don't look so concerned.
He bores the shit out of me.
Maybe that's exactly
what you need.
Hey, I was the one
who told you to quit your job.
I'm glad you did.
I'm just saying that,
if you're gonna...
I don't know...
nail yourself to a cross...
then you should probably
know what it's made of.
Do you even remember
the last time we had sex?
I'm sure I'm gonna remember
the next time.
So goddamn clever.
Just a little clever.
Mmm.
What was that?
- Who is it?
- I don't know.
Well, neo-Nazis
wouldn't knock, right?
Jesus.
I thought
you were in Australia.
Yeah. Well, I thought
it best not to, um...
to telegraph my movements.
By the way,
you should probably take
your name off the door.
Have you seen
the latest expose...
by the Kenyan National
Coalition on Human Rights?
They've revealed that police
are running death squads.
My friend Oscar
wrote the report.
Kibaki wants to bury it.
We need to get it up
on the homepage.
It details hundreds of murders,
massive human rights
violations.
It's like exposing Chile
under Pinochet.
Have you got any of
that disgusting energy drink?
It might be a long night.
Hey.
I'm sorry.
Am I interrupting something?
Hey.
Anke.
Anke, come on.
Come back inside, please.
It's late.
- Tell him to go.
- I can't.
Do you want me to come
back inside? Tell him to go!
Listen, we've been working
on this project for months.
Julian thinks it could be
the most important leak
we've ever had.
- He just got off the plane.
- Listen to yourself!
Why do you try so hard
to be him?
What?
You'll never be him.
He's got nowhere else to stay.
Well, I do.
Mmm.
- Is that my jacket?
- Mmm.
I'm about to write a press
release on death squads.
I wanted to wear
something that matched
the gravity of the occasion.
I have a son in Melbourne,
you know.
He turns 19 next week.
I haven't seen him in a year.
It takes two things
to change the world...
and you'd be surprised how
many people have good ideas.
But commitment...
true commitment,
that's the hard one.
It requires sacrifice.
- What's his name?
- Daniel.
His name is Daniel.
In the recordings
posted on WikiLeaks...
Perupetro vice-president,
Alberto Quimper...
and Romulo Lon Alegra,
a prominent
Peruvian politician...
are heard discussing bribes in
exchange for oil concessions.
Hackers have broken
into the email account...
of Republican
vice-presidential candidate,
Sarah Palin.
The hacking exposes
what appears to be...
Palin's use
of a personal account
for government business.
The 238-page document...
outlines standard
operating procedure
for prisoner treatment
at Guantanamo Bay.
WikiLeaks revealed that
Iceland's biggest bank,
Kaupthing...
loaned billions
to its own shareholders...
a key contributor to the
country's economic collapse.
The bank obtained a court
order against network RUV...
but that did little good.
We lead tonight with the
collapse of the Kaupthing Bank.
Due to a count injunction, we
can't bring you the whole stony.
But there is an organization that can.
You'll find them at Wikileaks.org
WikiLeaks is redefining
the public's right
to information.
I'd like to add whatever
legitimacy I can,
right after I buy them a drink.
Iceland could become
a new utopia.
A refuge for whistleblowers
and investigative journalists.
She's a Member of Parliament?
Apparently,
our latest spokesperson.
...for the legislative process
of bringing freedom
of information...
expression and speech,
into the 21 st century.
- Thank you.
- Whoo!
Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
So, what do you want to drink?
He's like an octopus.
He's everywhere
at the same time.
Yeah.
Come on, Daniel!
You need space
to let your ego flow!
The report posted on Wikileaks, which
details shocking police misconduct,
was dismissed by government
spokesman Alfred Mutua
as a front to raise
money from the west.
What is this guy talking about?
Just leave it alone.
You know he's a clown.
The Students' Union
are planning a protest
at the university next week.
It might take that long
to get there.
We've exposed
death squads in Kenya,
a nuclear accident in Iran.
In Iceland,
the government has taken over
the Kaupthing Bank.
And the 9/11 pager leak
will have huge
privacy implications.
...our enemies.
Um, WIRED wants a longer piece.
Can you make time
for a one-on-one session?
- Absolutely, yeah.
- Great.
Excuse me.
Um...
Call me.
- Okay.
- Cool.
Look at you! Groupies.
She's a reporter.
She's certainly working
an angle.
The victims,
Oscar Kamau Kingara
and John Paul Oulu...
had worked closely with
the Kenyan Commission
on Human Rights...
on a report
documenting complicity
of the Kenyan Police
in over 400 murders.
The report gained notoriety
after it was published
on the WikiLeaks site.
It can't be just some
mealy-mouthed press release.
Kibaki had them murdered.
The language needs
to be stronger.
- It's already quite strong.
- Give me the damn computer.
They left their names
in the report.
They wanted the world to know
they stood behind it.
Yes, they wanted
the world to know.
It was a damn fine story.
We put it on the front
of the website...
and we couldn't even
get a single paper
outside of Kenya to pick it up.
We're not breaking through.
Those were my friends.
If we had publicized
the report better...
then...
they would have been heroes.
And there would be too high
a political cost
to murdering them.
Kibaki wouldn't have dared.
He's a tyrant, Julian.
I don't think more publicity
would have...
Oh, what the hell do you know
about publicity?
I mean, outside of sucking up
to reporters. It's disgusting.
The woman from WIRED?
I was selling her a story.
Yeah, well, why don't you just
leave that to me?
Don't take it
personally. He's just scared.
You should be, too.
Our operating system is secure,
our other sources are safe,
we're fine.
Really.
What?
Do you think our site
is vulnerable?
I think you're taking on
presidents, kings, kingpins.
People that can easily afford
the kind of black hats...
that get off on breaking into
a "secure" operating system.
And believe me,
if your OS is anything
less than secure...
it's not gonna take them long
to identify the rest
of the sources...
and to hunt them down.
Hey.
Ask for my help, Daniel.
Welcome back to
the most news in the morning.
Yeah.
No. No. Keep your men on.
All right, thank you.
...detailing nearly 500,000
pager messages reportedly sent
- on September 11th, 2001.
Sarah.
I thought
if I sent you to Cairo,
I'd have a moment to myself.
The President is busting
my nuts about this UN speech.
Turn on CNN.
WikiLeaks will not
say if the source
was in government,
law enforcement...
industry,
or is a private citizen
with the capability
to intercept messages.
Privacy experts are not pleased
to see personal
communications released...
and even less pleased
that they were collected...
and then stored
for these eight long years.
At 8:45, the first plane
hit the World Trade Center.
By 8:50, the first texts
indicating something is wrong.
WikiLeaks says it has verified
some of the texts...
and believes
they all are authentic.
These are the guys
that skewered Palin?
And the Iranian
nuclear program,
Petroper, Bank Julius Bar.
Right, we just indicted
the bankers.
Do they have an agenda?
Truth, justice,
the American way.
Sam, it's half a million
text messages.
Who has the capacity to track
that many pager services?
You think the leak
came from us?
The CIA's concerned,
they have a man on it.
We think it's time
we get the Pentagon involved.
Why are you guys at State
always so trigger-happy?
It's just a website, right?
It's not a terrorist cell.
Why don't I call Justice?
Justice will tell you there's
a First Amendment issue.
And even if there weren't...
this site has mirrors outside
the U.S. It's beyond the law.
I don't even know
what that means.
It means that the transfer
of information is too easy,
Sam...
and we are not prepared.
I mean, you work
for the goddamn White House.
Can you call the Pentagon,
please?
Thank you.
Okay. I'm gonna be called
into this Mubarak meeting
as soon as we land.
Can you brief me
on this source?
Yeah.
Tarek Haliseh.
Yeah.
Senior defense advisor
to Gaddafi.
The program code is a mess.
There are ways
to trace your sources.
They aren't protected nearly
as well as you say they are.
You let him
on the primary server?
He could have hacked it
himself. That's the point.
We need help.
We need to be careful
who we trust.
I've known Marcus for years.
We knew Birgitta
all of five minutes
- when you asked her to...
- I asked her.
I have experience
with these things,
and I don't make mistakes.
Well, at least not usually.
We made a promise
to our sources...
You made a promise to me!
Hey. You might want
to get backstage.
There are two guys
sniffing around,
real Patriot Act types.
According to
The Guardian,
we had more scoops
in three years...
than The Washington Post
has had in 30.
We have exposed corruption
in dozens of countries.
Have a look.
Thank you, thank you.
It's working.
Please.
I grew up in the East.
Even if you wrote a letter
about a broken sewer pipe...
we were watched.
Maybe interrogated,
thrown in jail.
I think, Mr. Assange...
if we had someone like you...
the Wall would have
come down years before.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
This lady really
defines the essence
of what we're trying
to achieve.
Privacy for the individual,
transparency
for institutions...
with your personal safety
as a whistleblower...
guaranteed through anonymity.
Of course,
when you seek to protect,
there are those
who seek to destroy.
But we...
We make a promise
to our sources.
Which is why we are continually
adding qualified partners...
to strengthen our team.
You can change the world
with a great idea...
but you can't do it alone.
You need people.
People willing to put
themselves on the line.
if you just email Daniel.
Thank you so much.
Look at the PayPal account.
It's thousands of euros.
Oh, we should buy some
mistletoe to celebrate under.
Or we can upgrade servers
and get new laptops.
Or we could do that.
Yawn, yawn.
See you guys at the party.
- Mr. and Mrs. Berg.
- Hello.
Daniel didn't tell me
you were coming.
We kept reading
about you in the papers.
Can you join us for dinner?
- Julian is very busy...
- I'd love to.
That's marvelous.
That was taken in Belgium.
I organized the competitions.
We traveled to Dusseldorf,
Geneva...
Remember
that boy he beat in Prague?
He was so big.
She means he was fat and slow.
By the way,
have you seen these?
Papa...
Schmitt! Don't ruin my papers.
Get off that!
Always sitting on my papers.
He's been keeping
all the articles.
There was this one piece
on Julius Bar in the F.A.Z.
it was really wonderful.
We don't really
bother with the local papers.
It's a national paper.
Some collection
you've got there.
Yeah.
Quite the anarchist, hmm?
Oddest thing.
I didn't meet
my biological father
until I was in my twenties.
I walked into his house,
and there on the shelves...
Kafka, Kropotkin, Solzhenitsyn.
All these books I'd spent years
trying to discover on my own.
Perhaps you'd like
to borrow one.
Where's the bathroom?
Over there.
He takes his backpack
to the bathroom?
Security.
Let's eat.
Hey.
That wasn't cool.
Sorry.
- See you later.
- Later!
Bye!
Yeah.
I clean lost my appetite.
But you have to admit
they are a bit suffocating.
What?
Oh, you haven't
picked up on that?
Well, I suppose we all have
our own unique way
of viewing the world.
For example,
here's an interesting one.
Did you see it,
the new WIRED piece?
"Cofounder Daniel Schmitt
got involved
"with WikiLeaks
prior to launch."
I didn't say that. Julian,
the reporter screwed up.
Maybe you're used to people
exaggerating your successes...
but while you were
out winning judo trophies
with Mutti and Vati...
I was studying
information systems
in a shitty squat
outside Melbourne...
obsessing over code in
a hot little flat in Paris...
and holding schizophrenic
meetings with myself...
the chairman, the secretary,
sole volunteer, and founder...
of an organization
no one had even heard of!
Including you.
Oh, no, wait, Daniel,
but there's more to this.
It gets better.
"Daniel Schmitt,
he won't give his real name.
"No, instead, he adopted
the nom de plume 'Schmitt'
"after his cat."
To think,
I spent weeks reading Horace
to find the right
nom de guerre...
when all I needed
was a fucking cat.
Sorry. Uh, you're
the leaks guy, right?
From the Congress?
- You need volunteers?
- Hmm.
Oh, we have hundreds
of volunteers.
But we could always do
with more loyal followers.
Oh, great.
I'm Ziggy.
- Good to meet you, Ziggy.
- Good to meet you.
Hey, Daniel.
Listen, I just need five
minutes. I'll be all right.
- Don't worry about it.
- Just a cup of coffee.
But Julian wants me to take
you guys to the airport!
Julian can go fuck himself!
This represents
the full stockpile?
There's been some
effort to comply
with the Chemical Weapons
Convention...
but there is no way they will
be able to destroy it all
before the deadline.
Is this Gaddafi dragging
his heels, or his son?
It's not clear.
But Mutassim is ambitious.
His brother is out of favor...
and this could be an attempt
to cast himself
as a possible successor
to his father.
That's just what we need.
Another madman
with mustard gas.
Do you remember that
New Year's Eve party
in Sharm el-Sheikh?
I'd just started my Fulbright,
I'd had a bit to drink.
A lot to drink.
Your brother begged
you to leave
the drunk American
at the party...
but you stayed.
Someone had to keep
an eye on her.
D.C. is a nice place
to raise a child.
You have a family now.
I want you to do what's best
for your family.
Tripoli is my home.
I am doing what's best
for my family.
Why don't we order something?
The spread
of information is forming
a new nervous system
for our planet.
We recognize that
the world's information
infrastructure...
will become what
we and others make of it.
So, you think
this is good intel, huh?
I've known Tarek
for over 20 years.
Okay. Write up a cable.
I want everybody on the
Middle East desk up to speed.
Hey.
I never thought
you'd become a rock star.
I think rock stars
have cooler tattoos.
You should have heard Julian.
"Compensating for something?"
I didn't care.
It wasn't for him anyways.
He's an asshole, Daniel.
He's a manipulative asshole.
He must be.
Why else would I have given up
everything I cared about?
What you've done...
it's staggering.
But you did it together.
Sure, Julian
is the mad prophet,
but he needs boundaries.
He needs a line.
You're that line.
We all want
information to be free.
But investigative journalism
is pricy.
And when newspapers
get squeezed,
it's the first thing to go...
which is why providers of
first-rate source material...
like WikiLeaks,
are so important.
Nick, is Assange
ever gonna show?
I had a message,
I think he's been delayed.
Passport control
can be such a bore.
Apparently,
they're not big fans
of first-rate
source material, so...
What we witnessed
was the brutal breakdown
of the rule of law...
and destruction
of public property
as acted out by the police.
I was so frightened, I thought
my hair might turn white.
The only way we could actually
get back into the compound...
was to ask the police,
that we were trying to expose
as being corrupt,
to let us in.
The real reason
I was late today was, uh...
we have it on good authority
that we're being tracked
by CIA operatives...
and there were
definitely two types.
- Oh.
- Which we had to shake.
An international man
of mystery, huh?
I've used that line.
Next he'll be telling you
the spooks kidnapped
his partner.
Partner?
Daniel, the German chap.
The grounded one.
The one who helps you
distinguish fact from fiction.
WikiLeaks has hundreds
of volunteers.
It's very difficult to keep
track of any single one.
Well, do try to
keep track of me.
Excuse me.
So, what's this new leak
you're sitting on?
It must be big if it's piqued
the interest of the CIA.
So, you do believe me?
No, no, no. I didn't.
Until I noticed your friends.
Let's not attract attention.
The American spooks
are relatively civilized.
It's the Russians you should
be keeping an eye on.
Room 376.
When Ms. Lang returns,
bring her up,
they'll assume
you're in for the night.
That will give us plenty
of time to find a way
to slip you out of the hotel...
and for you to show
me what it is
that's got their knickers
in such a twist.
Anyway.
Good night.
Good night.
Good night.
Yeah?
I need you. Can you get on
the first plane to Reykjavik?
Christ, I'm surprised they
don't have more men on you.
I thought you were in Norway.
It's not safe for me
to stay here anymore.
What's going on?
They'll have a taxi here in 20.
It'll be by the back entrance.
The Americans are out front.
Julian, Julian, you should
work with us on this.
Why? So that The Guardian
can pick up some more awards?
What are you doing?
if I'm gonna get
out of this hotel,
I'm gonna need a disguise.
Oh.
That's a weapon.
I see your element.
You got about four Humvees
out along this...
You're clear.
All right, firing.
Let me know when you get them.
Light 'em all up.
Come on. Fire.
Roger.
Keep shooting.
Keep shooting.
Target hit. It was a missile.
Appears to be
wounded, trying to crawl away.
He's getting up.
Maybe he has
a weapon down in his hand?
No, no,
I haven't seen one yet.
I see you guys got that guy
crawling right now on the curb?
Yeah, I got
him, I put two rounds of...
Individuals
going to the scene...
Jesus.
...possibly picking up bodies
and weapons.
Coming around. Clear.
Roger.
I lost them in the dust.
- I got 'em.
Oh, yeah, look at that,
right through the windshield.
Look at those dead bastards.
Were they even armed?
With cameras, mainly.
Two of the victims
were Reuters employees.
A cameraman and his driver.
The military said
they died in a battle
between U.S. forces
and insurgents...
and the press just bought it.
Didn't Reuters chase the story?
The Pentagon stonewalled them.
It's a massive cover-up.
This is huge.
I think this is gonna
change everything.
Traffic, donations.
I want to call it
"Collateral Murder."
- That's a bit loaded.
- Don't you think it should be?
Let's not get ahead
of ourselves.
We have to make sure
it's legitimate.
Where did you get it?
A guy showed up in the chat,
said he was U.S. military.
But we should track down
the families of the victims.
In Baghdad?
Yes, in Baghdad.
We are journalists.
We have to verify our sources.
Maybe you should
look into flights.
We'll have to preprocess,
improve resolution.
We can use FFmpegs
and toss it into Final Cut.
I know some guys who've done
this thing, at RUV.
Good.
Target 15 coming at you.
It's a guy with a weapon.
Good.
Now add some buzz over that.
Twenty, again.
Radio frequency
in the military comms.
Okay.
All right, firing.
Okay, I got it.
Last conversation, Hotel...
Roger, Hotel Two-Six.
I've heard people say
that I dangle on the autistic
spectrum.
It's probably why I lean
so heavily on those around me.
Yeah.
We need to set up
a media launch.
Yeah.
Ziggy is planning something
at the Parliament building.
Ziggy?
- Mmm-hmm.
You want to launch the
biggest leak we've ever had
in Iceland?
Let's take the fight to them.
Courage is contagious.
Right?
The video shows
the brutal slaughter
of two Reuters reporters.
Here, we have
firsthand evidence
of the barbarity of war.
A man, going to drop
his children at school...
sees another man bleeding
to death on the pavement.
He stops to aid this civilian
and in the process is killed.
And his vehicle
turned 180 degrees...
by the sheer force
of the Apache helicopter's
30-millimeter bullets...
ripping into the side
of the vehicle...
miraculously not killing
the two children inside.
The website is calling
this "Collateral Murder."
Captain Nash,
is that a fair description
of the job our troops
are doing?
If you are embedding with
terrorists in a combat zone...
and those terrorists get
engaged and you get killed,
it is not murder.
if you don't want
ugly pictures,
you should stay out
of ugly wars.
I've got the Deputy NSA
for you.
Twelve million people have
seen that video on YouTube.
Do you still want to tell me
you think it's just
a little website?
General Thomason
is reviewing intel.
I told him to pull you in.
I'm on in five,
do you have anything for me?
The guy on Fox is pretty good.
Maybe you should use
some of his material.
Sam.
This is Jim.
Just tell them the truth.
The soldiers
were following protocol.
This is computer geeks looking
at the war through a pinhole.
Well, these computer geeks
are starting
to become a real nuisance, Jim.
Welcome to the revolution.
"Assange,
disheveled like a bag lady
"walking in off the street...
"He smelled as if
he hadn't bathed...
"Changes cell phones daily."
I mean...
A couple of days
of serious analysis...
and then it's just all about
how weird I am.
You must have
enjoyed Keller's diatribe
on your filthy white socks.
Yes, but I hadn't figured...
that, you know,
brutal slaughter
and the state of my socks...
would get equal billing
in The New York Times.
Hello.
Ziggy.
Christ, they're gonna kill us.
Get off Skype.
Get off everything, now.
Turn the phones off!
Guys, we're going
to have to shut down
everything right now.
You all have
five seconds to save.
- Five seconds!
- What's going on, Marcus?
We cannot let them trace us.
I just spoke to Kim Zetter.
She said the U.S. Military
arrested a private
for leaking secrets to us.
The video?
This is the guy
who leaked the video?
She said
it was more than that.
Half a million classified
U.S. Army documents
and hundreds of thousands...
of internal communiqus from
the U.S. State Department.
This is the biggest leak
of classified information
in history.
Oh, my God.
You're telling me
that this private
stuck a thumb drive
in a computer?
It was a CD.
- Excuse me?
- It was a blank CD.
It was marked "Lady Gaga."
- Where's the Secretary?
- Jim's calling her now.
Do we know which documents
Manning leaked?
He's refusing to talk.
We think it's war logs
from Afghanistan and Iraq.
And cables
from the NCD database.
Which cables?
Which cables?
He may have leaked
the whole database.
That's a quarter
of a million cables.
They can read like
the diary of a 12-year-old.
You know, personal,
frank, rude comments...
about every president
and prime minister alive.
This is a diplomatic nightmare.
Excuse me, but who gives a shit
about diplomacy right now?
The military logs expose
hundreds of informants.
There are lives at risk.
Sam, he's right.
A 22-year-old private
with a history
of mental instability...
and a Lady Gaga CD...
and we're on the verge of
a major international crisis.
He bragged about it
in a chat room.
What the hell was he thinking?
He's a kid.
He's 22.
Are you sure
they can't trace us?
I'm adding another Tor circuit.
Wipe my portion
from the hard drive.
Well, if you have them,
then they know about it.
I know. I got to go.
- Are we back up yet?
- Just a few more proxies.
The whole mission
is to protect sources.
We can't protect them
from themselves.
We're online.
See if Julian's on chat.
Shit! He's got them.
How did he not tell us?
That is three gigs of text.
This is crazy.
Tell him
we can't dump the data.
It's too dangerous.
Tell him!
We need time
to go through it all.
Prick.
Come on.
Fuck you, you disloyal fuck!
Shit!
Guys, look at this.
Julian Assange
is engaged in terrorism.
He should be treated
as an enemy combatant.
WikiLeaks should be closed down
permanently and decisively.
Nick, how can I help you?
Can you put me
in touch with Julian?
Julian's not available.
Daniel, we both
know you're sitting
on the biggest story
on the planet right now.
And if you're thinking
of going to ground on this,
it's too late.
The cat's out of the bag.
Bradley Manning's
future and yours
depend on how this
material is handled.
Now, I want you to tell Julian
I'm already working
on a story...
to paint this as the next
Pentagon Papers.
But you need our help.
It's the biggest thing
you've ever done.
And if you think they spun you
on the Collateral
Murder video...
wait till you see
what they do here.
Tell Julian
this is all about survival.
I'll get back to you.
Where's Julian flying in to?
Julian.
Did anyone follow you?
No, no, no, I don't think so.
What's he doing here?
- I told you to come alone.
- You need to hear him out.
They're looking for us, and
they got people everywhere.
Daniel Ellsberg
put out a statement.
He said
they're coming after us.
We need to publish now.
It's hundreds of thousands of
pages of sensitive material.
It's not like the video.
The docs are full of jargon,
they're totally impenetrable.
We wouldn't know what the hell
we were publishing.
So, we let
the historians decide.
I thought the whole point
of this organization
was to publish in full.
I thought the point
was protecting whistleblowers.
Can I speak to Nick Davies,
please?
Don't get me wrong.
You should still
keep an eye out
for men with poison umbrellas.
But if the U.S.
has any foresight,
they know they need
to do more...
than kill you.
They need to delegitimize
everything you stand for.
You represent
a terrifying future.
Right now, the most
powerful media machine
on the entire planet...
is planning a smear campaign
like nothing you've ever seen.
Amazing how someone
could talk for 10 minutes
without actually
saying anything.
You said
you would hear him out.
What are you proposing?
An international
media coalition
legitimizing you
as a news organization.
Let the U.S. attack.
We print the news.
And if we put you on
the moral high ground...
with Mother Teresa,
with Nelson Mandela...
No one will be able
to fuck with us.
But they'd still get
their exclusives.
Look, finding stories
in all these documents...
that's a lot of work,
it's a lot of time.
You can't expect us to do it
without an incentive.
And then what? We set a date?
You run your stories,
we post the raw data.
Obviously, all these documents
have names,
sources, U.S. informants.
You'll need to redact them.
But WikiLeaks doesn't edit.
That's all very well,
but The Guardian
can't be seen to condone...
publishing something
that puts lives in danger.
And morals aside, it's about
how you're perceived.
You're starting
an information war
with the United States
Government.
You mustn't hand
them ammunition.
I suppose
it is just a name search.
Well, look, that's my editor.
What should I say?
How secure are your phones?
Alan.
So, do we have a deal?
No, no, no,
it's a complete cock-up.
He won't talk to me.
Let me talk to him, then.
I can't.
Listen, I'll get back to you.
Julian...
this kind of coverage
gets people's attention.
It could be the culmination
of everything we've done.
This is a code
to a temporary site.
I'll send you the link
in 24 hours.
You'll find the war logs there.
So, it's a deal?
We publish, you publish.
We redact, you redact.
We'll put out the war logs
in six weeks.
If you behave,
we'll move on to the cables.
Great.
Well, a coalition government
will have a certain
honeymoon period.
But, selling off the
post office? I mean that...
Good morning, everyone.
The meeting is over.
Alan, I'm sorry. I told Nick.
Get me Bill Keller
at The Times,
and what's-his-fuck
at Der Spiegel.
Alan?
I'm sorry, folks, we're gonna
have to break this up.
Door? Yeah.
He's pretty slow
for a tech wizard.
He said it's 91,000 logs
from Afghanistan alone.
I imagine
that might take a second.
All right, here we go.
Look at that.
Keren, get me Bill Keller
at The New York Times.
And let's be discreet.
The spreadsheet is enormous.
I'm sure it contains
the scoop of the century...
but we simply cannot access it.
Are you working in Excel?
Every time I open the damn
thing the system crashes.
You have to parse the data
in a text editor...
and then script it into
a searchable database.
- Are you getting this?
- Yeah, that helps.
I blew off a profile
with McChrystal in Kabul.
This better be good.
Do you know what
"E.O.F." stands for?
It's "Escalation of Force."
Can you see that?
Yeah, got it.
E.O.F. is
"Escalation of Force."
Which I believe
means more dead civilians.
The Espionage Act?
You can't be serious.
If the Attorney General
can show...
he tried to convince a source
to leak
classified information...
You mean like every journalist
who's ever covered
the Pentagon?
They could indict us
under that rubric.
I wouldn't be surprised
if they do.
Nothing draws people to a cause
like a celebrity martyr, Alan.
That's good, Daniel.
Uh, look...
can you email a list
of whistleblower prizes
you're putting Manning up for?
No emailing.
But I can fax you.
Right, of course.
But we need it by Friday
so we can run it in his bio.
Will do. Thanks, Ian.
And this
Task Force 373 has a hit list
with more than 2,000 names.
Yes, they refer to it
as "stopping birthdays."
These civilian casualty
numbers are devastating.
It's a shit show.
I've got the U.K.
ambassador saying
the campaign isn't under
proper supervision.
Do you want to talk
to Marcel? Hold on.
Well, you can sleep
here if you want.
No, no.
T-minus four.
Are you getting excited?
Sure.
He must be exhausted.
I mean, the redactions alone...
it shouldn't take that long.
It's just a name search.
That's what
we initially thought.
But a lot of it is context.
Nick told Julian...
a tip from the "goat herder
in the red house,"
in small villages...
that's as damning as a name.
We're only posting
a few hundred of the logs
and we're swimming.
You'd need an army
to go through all 91,000.
Thank God you have one.
The story on the generals
would typically be the lead...
but everything's
going out at once
in case there's a gag order.
We're struggling to keep it
to 14 pages.
It's talking points
for the morning interviews.
- Julian.
- What the hell?
I've been trying
to reach you for hours.
I was just sending you a list.
The URLs need
to be standardized,
torrents need seeding.
We need to...
The redactions.
That was on my list.
It's 91,000 documents,
and our site is publishing
in four days.
Let's go.
What the hell
were you thinking?
Editing reflects bias.
We make a promise to our
sources to publish in full.
You lied to everyone we're
working with. You lied to me.
It's funny, you know, I don't
remember you objecting...
to us publishing the names
and addresses
- of every BNP member.
- This is different.
These sources are fighting
for the very thing
we're supposed to stand for.
And remind me what that is,
exactly. Hmm?
Transparency for
powerful organizations...
exposing corruption and
conspiracy wherever it exists.
We're going to have
to push back publication.
There's no way we can release
in four days.
Fourteen pages in The Guardian,
twelve in The New York Times.
This is more coverage
than all the leaks
we have had, combined.
We are winning
an information war...
which goes beyond
any short-term alliance
we have with
the mainstream media...
and you want to throw it
all away because you fear...
that some U.S. Government
informant might come to harm?
These are human beings, Julian,
and their lives are at stake.
What about the lives
of the soldiers...
and the civilians
involved in these conflicts?
Death squads, unreported
civilian casualties,
countless incidents
of friendly fire.
This is information
the world needs to know.
So, the next time you find
yourself lecturing me
about this organization...
please try to remember
why I created it.
And why I hired you to help me.
Well, that's funny.
I don't remember you hiring me.
I don't recall
a contract or a salary.
But I guess I should have
known when I met Jay Lim.
There is no organization.
There's just you
and your ego...
and the lies you tell to get
whatever the fuck you want.
You know, it's incredible...
how much time you can spend
with a person...
and still have no idea
who they are.
You're suspended.
Effective immediately.
Those are
the most revealing docs.
Do whatever you can
to keep them off the site.
Okay, thank you, Marcel. Bye.
Rosenbach said the bulk
of the identifiable sources...
are in the threat assessments.
It's 14,000 documents.
But, if you hold those,
there are a lot
fewer names in the rest.
Yeah, I got it.
And remember,
don't tell Julian
that we were talking.
Are you seeing
the ridiculous crap
he's spouting on the chat?
Danny, he's completely
out of his mind.
And if he keeps doing this,
we're going to have to quit.
All of us.
Just take care
of the documents, okay?
Daniel, have you seen this?
He's on Twitter.
He says that you are FBI,
and that I'm CIA.
Look.
This is crazy.
Der Spiegel is begging
for more time.
The Times wants to go.
Holger, I've got Nick.
Ah, great. Five minutes?
- We have to go.
- Five more minutes.
Our top story this morning...
the White House,
blasting the release
of over 90,000
U.S. military records.
They tell a story
that some veterans
of the region know full well.
More civilian deaths
than are ever reported.
Unexplained American deaths,
questionable
battlefield tactics.
The leak has forced
the White House
to defend its Afghan strategy.
Open and transparent
government...
is something that
the President believes
is truly important...
but the stealing
of classified information
and its dissemination
is a crime.
The United States
strongly condemns...
the illegal disclosure
of classified information.
What's worse
for national security?
WikiLeaks or bad U.S. policy?
Following the release
of the Afghan war logs...
WikiLeaks announced
it is sitting
on over 250, 000
U.S. diplomatic cables...
and plans to release
them shortly.
I've got a source in Colombia
we're gonna have to extract.
Christ,
Putin's gonna go ballistic.
How many more sources
do we have to notify
in the Middle East?
We're still trying to reach
our contacts in Tehran.
Okay, good. Keep it up.
I just talked to Libya,
they have real concerns
about the ambassador.
We're pulling the ambassador.
All right,
everybody, listen up!
I need at least 10 names...
of high priority sources
who could be harmed...
if and when these cables
are put out.
If we can claim that Assange
has blood on his hands...
we can turn this thing around.
Hi.
Do you think the President
of Turkmenistan...
will be more upset that
I called him
a practiced liar...
or that I called him vain?
- I'm sure he's heard worse.
- Hmm.
"President Berdymukhammedov
does not like people
"smarter than him.
"Since he's not very bright,
"he's suspicious
of a lot of people."
Well, he's been around
for a long time.
I don't think he's worried
about the opinions
of a mid-level foreign attach
That's why I signed
Hillary's name to it.
I'll see if The Times
will hold it.
No, I've got bigger issues.
No, Sarah,
I am collecting cables
from the head
of every foreign desk.
Okay, you tell me...
You tell me, then,
what do I ignore?
This?
This destroys
the Sudanese peace talks,
this screws a source
in Amman...
The Times will redact
the names.
Yeah, but,
what about him, will he?
And don't you tell me
that your friend Keller's
got him under control.
He's bigger than The Times.
He can do whatever
the hell he wants.
Just like he did
with the war logs.
God.
Any word from Tarek?
He's named in at least
a half a dozen of these.
Let's bring him in.
So have you decided
about St. Harts?
It's a lung flight for a baby.
That's what a nanny's for.
You don't have to convince me.
- Hello?
- Doctor Haliseh?
Remember the trip
we once spoke of?
Gentlemen.
Welcome.
Please...
Tarek?
I left the estimates in the ear.
You need to go home.
She's cooking dinner.
Now! She needs to go now!
We need to pack.
Everything.
There are names, operations.
This leak puts
Americans' lives,
and our allies' lives at risk.
There is blood on their hands.
Pentagon officials
are saying today
that this has been
their fear all along.
That, if those names
were revealed,
those people would
become targets.
Mr. Assange
can say whatever he likes...
about the greater good
he thinks
he and his source are doing...
but they might already
have on their hands
the blood of some
young soldier...
or that of an Afghan family.
For more, we're joined here
in our New York studio
by Daniel Ellsberg.
In terms
of "blood on their hands"...
I'm sorry to say
a lot of actual blood
has been spilled...
as opposed to this
hypothetical blood.
This is
all speculative harm...
and what's not being talked
about is the actual harm...
and that's what has been
exposed through this leak.
So, I think that's important
for us to think about.
At least he kept part
of the bargain.
250,000 diplomatic cables,
right here.
Amazing.
So, the bugger came through.
Nick was right. It's huge.
It's a window into every
government on the planet.
Already I've got
a dozen page ones.
Gaddafi lying to his people,
Putin arming
Georgian separatists.
Damning assessments of leaders
in Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia.
Are you still focused
on yesterday's news?
On the high priest
of truth bragging
about a redaction process
that didn't exist?
I wouldn't call that
yesterday's news.
Sorry, wasn't he your messiah?
Yes. Yes.
Just like the rest of them.
Feet of clay.
So he's a liar,
a callous little zealot,
just like every
other oddball source.
Mmm.
Seventeen little keystrokes,
and anyone in the world
can read what he publishes.
And now we've given him
a bloody megaphone, they will.
He's not a source.
He's the head
of a huge media empire
that's accountable to no one.
And we put him there.
What is the purpose
of your trip?
He s a guest lecturer
at University of Cairo.
What are you lecturing about?
Petroleum geology.
We've crossed the border.
Can you put them on?
Sarah?
You're safe.
What do we do now?
Where do we go?
We have tried hard
to make sure...
that this
material does not bring
innocents to harm.
We're familiar with groups
whose abuses we exposed...
- Did you reach him?
- No.
If we both plug in,
we should be able to do it
while he's speaking.
We have a harm
minimization process.
We don't do things
in an ad hoc way.
All the material is over
seven months old...
Daniel, we both know he's
never going to step aside.
He can't be trusted.
We need to shut him down.
If you want to do this,
we have to do it now.
...whose
abuses we exposed...
is attempting to criticize
the messenger, to detract...
It takes two things
to change the world...
and you'd be surprised how
many people have good ideas.
But...
commitment, true commitment...
it requires sacrifice.
Good journalism
exposes powerful abusers...
so that often leads
to backlashes, but...
revolution is...
the struggle
between the past...
and the future.
And the future has just begun.
I guess that
Turkmenistan comment
didn't go over too well
with the Secretary, did it?
Actually,
Berdymukhammedov himself
called for my early retirement.
I'm sure he called for
a lot more than that.
But there's diplomacy for you.
Well, let's drink to diplomacy.
At least while we still can.
Okay.
You know, I was...
I was watching him
give an interview
while I was packing up.
He was talking
about all the leaks
he'd put out in the last
six months alone...
and I started thinking.
Two advanced degrees,
a Fulbright.
Five diplomatic posts,
14 years abroad.
All those nights,
I stayed up worrying...
if the slightest turn of phrase
would send the whole world
to hell in a hand basket.
And right now,
at this very moment...
I don't know which one of us
history is gonna judge
more harshly.
Julian!
Contact us online,
I'll have my press person
get back to you.
Thank you.
That was amazing. Genius.
Have you seen Time?
Forbes?
We've got interview requests
- from Larry King, BSkyB...
- Julian.
Julian!
What is it?
There's something wrong
with the submission platform.
It's disabled.
Completely.
No one will be able to submit.
You know, he dyes his hair.
I saw it once.
We were at a conference,
and he went up
to the hotel room.
The cult he was in,
The Family...
they made the kids
dye their hair white.
I guess everyone has secrets.
Scars.
Moments in time
that shape them.
Some we can get past.
Some we can't.
There was a moment
when everything was possible.
We changed the world.
He changed the world.
But then he made it
all about him.
It always was.
Only someone so obsessed
with his own secrets...
could have come up with a way
to reveal everyone else's.
You know, there was a time
when British papers...
couldn't report
on parliamentary debate.
But then a few
very brave men...
started printing pamphlets
and leaking these debates.
And, uh, well,
I believe the men were hanged.
But the public
saw these pamphlets,
and demanded access...
and the modern
fourth estate was born...
from the passion
and the vision...
of these few brave souls.
Who were hanged.
Who were hanged.
And now, we find ourselves
in the same position.
A new information revolution...
infinitely more powerful
than the last.
A fifth estate...
seemingly hell-bent on
destroying its predecessors.
All the old models,
dying faster
than the new can replace them.
Which is why we need
more brave souls.
You and Julian
have charted a course
through all this chaos...
pointed at the truth.
And yes...
the tyrants of this world
should beware.
Knowing that now,
we have the power
to demand the information
that one day soon...
will wash them all away.
How's that?
So, where should we start?
Well, most good stories
start at the beginning.
Free Julian Assange!
Free Julian Assange!
There is no proof...
that anyone came to any harm
as a result
of the full disclosure...
of the unredacted documents
published on
the WikiLeaks website.
Not one shred of evidence.
We're taking on large,
powerful groups...
with vast and powerful lobbies
to protect them.
So, of course,
we're going to be attacked
in all sorts of manners.
My goodness.
Well, I know the mainstream
media is biased...
but this is absurd.
These allegations
are without basis...
and their issue
is deeply disturbing.
As an organization, of course
of course we, uh,
have made mistakes.
Um...
Uh... There are perhaps
a number of individuals...
An individual, perhaps,
that we should not
have employed.
Um...
That is possibly
the greatest mistake.
A WikiLeaks movie?
Which one?
Oh, that one. Mmm.
Well, that one is based on
the two worst books...
full of lies and distortion,
like all bad propaganda.
Look, urn...
A WikiLeaks movie...
It's more like
the "anti-WikiLeaks" movie.
If you want to know
the truth...
no one is going
to tell you the truth.
They're only going
to tell you their version.
So, if you want the truth...
you have to seek it out
for yourself.
In fact, that's where
the real power lies...
in your willingness
to look beyond this story...
any story.
And as long
as you keep searching,
you are dangerous to them.
That's what
they're afraid of. You.
It's all about you.
And a little bit about me, too.