The whistle-blowing website's founder, Julian Assange, said the
emails from US-based Stratfor would reveal the "seedy business" of
private intelligence firms and how they have become increasingly
unaccountable.
The publication is a coup for WikiLeaks after months of internal
turbulence and financial difficulties caused by a concerted
campaign by the US government to close it down and ongoing
extradition proceedings against Mr Assange.
But the release is also deeply controversial. Unlike previous
WikiLeaks exposés, most of which were the result of ideologically
committed whistleblowers such as the now incarcerated US soldier
Bradley Manning, the Stratfor emails are thought to have been
stolen from its servers by members of the hacking collective
Anonymous.
At a press conference in London, Mr Assange refused to elaborate
on where the emails had come from. "As a source protection
organisation and simply as a media organisation we don't discuss or
speculate on sourcing," he said.
But members of Anonymous, via Twitter accounts that have been
previously used to claim responsibility for hack attacks, announced
that the emails had indeed been taken by them last December and
handed to WikiLeaks.
The website has partnered with more than 25 media organisations
around the world and said it would release the emails over the
coming weeks. The first set, published yesterday, provided an
insight into the workings of Stratfor, a Texas-based security
think-tank that has been likened to a "shadow CIA".
Among the revelations were details that it has been hired by
large corporations to investigate activist groups and NGOs. Mr
Assange said the database contained 4,000 emails looking into the
activities of WikiLeaks itself, which would be published over the
coming days. Emails already released reportedly show that Stratfor
looked into the animal rights group Peta in Canada. Stratfor also
appears to have given the US company Dow Chemical information on
activists from Bhopal, an Indian town that became the epicentre of
the world's worst industrial disaster caused by an offshoot of a
company later taken over by Dow.
One of the activist groups mentioned in correspondence between
Stratfor and Dow Chemical employees is the Yes Men, who have
campaigned on behalf of those injured in the Bhopal disaster. Mike
Bonano, an activist who was given advance access to the emails,
said: "When we heard we were being monitored by an intelligence
agency it wasn't that big a surprise. One always suspects the
government might be listening to you. What one doesn't expect is
that it's not the government listening to you, it's a network of
unaccountable corporations and their only set of standards is their
bottom line."
A spokesperson for Dow Chemical said they could not comment on
the specific emails, but added: "Major companies, including Dow,
are often required to take appropriate action to protect their
people and safeguard their facilities around the world from those
who would threaten, disrupt and misrepresent the company and its
employees."
For your eyes only: Stratfor's 'glossary of terms'
One of the more interesting files released yesterday was one
that WikiLeaks claims is Stratfor's glossary explaining the
"useful, baffling and strange" terms it uses in its work
(apparently for internal use only). Here are some of the
highlights...
After Action Report: Final report on conclusion of an Op. Never
show the customer. It's like showing someone how sausage is made.
Nauseating.
ATF: Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Rednecks with a license to kill. Never, ever, ask for their help
on anything.
Barium Meal: When there is a leak, feed bits of radioactive
(traceable, false) information to suspects. See which bit leaks.
You will know who leaked it. The leaker will know you know. Livens
up a dull day like nothing else we've ever seen.
BYM: Bright Young Man Doesn't know shit. Doesn't know that he
doesn't know. Likely to burn you the first time out. Try to get him
killed as quickly as possible.
Case Officer: The person who manages an agent in the field.
[Needs] the skills of a psychologist and the morals of a pimp.
Clandestine: Operation that has no open connection to anyone.
Israeli maxim: "If you're captured, we don't know you. If you're
killed, we won't bury you. So ... don't get captured [or] killed."
Synonymous with suicidal.
Craft: Intelligence is not an art or a science. It is referred to
by the professional as The Craft, after Alan Dulles' [a founder of
CIA] book "The Craft of Intelligence." Craft covers all of the
skills and abilities of intelligence from writing to briefing to
spying. People are said to have "good craft", or "bad craft" or "no
frigging craft at all." A man with good craft can go into a bar,
meet a beautiful woman assigned to seduce him, get seduced and wake
up in the morning with the woman working for him. That's great
craft. Or a man is picked up by a beautiful woman, convinces
himself that she really likes him in spite of the fact that he is
50, balding and overweight. After two drinks he comes to feel that
they really are soulmates. He describes his latest operation in
detail and never gets laid. This is a total lack of craft.
FBI aka the Downtown Gang. Very good a breaking up used-car
rings. Kind of confused on anything more complicated. Fun to jerk
with. Not fun when they jerk back.
Hoover's Dress: Yes, Jedgar liked to pop a dress on once in a
while, just to ... kick back and relax with Clyde [Tolson, his
right-hand man]. The dress is Top Secret and kept in a vault in the
Hoover Bldg. Play with that thought for a while and then decide if
this profession is for you.
Secret Service: They catch counterfeiters, break up child
pornography rings and guard the president. Continual identity
crisis. Not, shall we say, the most sophisticated crew you'll ever
find.
Source – burnt: A source that was blown in the process of being
used. Every source gets burnt. The Craft is in the how and when.
They're all dead men boys; make 'em count.
Target: soft: The drunken congressman looking to get laid.
Target: hard: A 30-year veteran of Israeli intelligence who has
gone totally paranoid.
War Wagon: Follow car on protective details that carries the
shoulder weapons and counter-assault team. If [it] is needed,
intelligence has failed.
Stratfor's chief: George Friedman
A regular pundit on American TV networks and author of numerous
political books, Stratfor's founder, George Friedman, has
become one of the most influential people within the ever-growing
field of private intelligence. Born to Hungarian parents, his
family fled Soviet Russia and set up in the US. After two decades
within academia, Friedman turned to the private sector and created
Stratfor in 1996. It has since become a highly influential
intelligence think tank, with more than 300,000 clients subscribing
to daily updates. Barron's magazine once labelled the group a
"shadow CIA" but others have questioned the quality of their
output. Cyber security experts also expressed surprise that much of
the information taken by hackers in December was unencrypted.
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