The Pentagon is demanding the whistleblower website WikiLeaks hand over its entire cache of classified military documents on the Afghan war and erase those it’s already released. WikiLeaks has said it still has 15,000 documents on top of the 76,000 it disclosed last month. Pentagon spokesperson Geoff Morrell called on WikiLeaks to “do the right thing” and return the documents in full.
Geoff Morrell: “WikiLeaks’s public disclosure last week of a large number of our documents has already threatened the safety of our troops, our allies and Afghan citizens who are working with us to help bring about peace and stability in that part of the world. Public disclosure of additional Defense Department classified information can only make the damage worse. The only acceptable course is for WikiLeaks to take steps immediately to return all versions of all of these documents to the US government and permanently delete them from its website, computers and records.”
In a response on its Twitter page, WikiLeaks commented, “Obnoxious Pentagon spokesperson issues formal threat against WikiLeaks: Destroy everything, or else.”