It was only last December that I was writing about the seemingly invulnerable status of Wikileaks. At that time the United States was taking erratic and embarrassingly ineffectual steps in their attempt to combat Wikileaks. The news media’s coverage of Wikileaks was incessant. Some painted Assange out to be a European pseudo-anarchist, some even went so far to point out that he had the physical appearance of some kind of Bond villain. Others conducted in-depth interviews with the now very public head of Wikileaks, in which the interviewer and the audience very often found themselves in state of stunned admiration or odious judgement. Online “activists” made efforts to lend logistical support, and even conducted several very public retaliatory operations on behalf of Wikileaks. The media circus was all to happy to cover all of this, as Assange was forced to go underground, in part to elude his own fear of being potentially executed by a CIA wet team. However, the cooler heads prevailed within our government, and Assange would never be touched by any such means. The United States apparently realized it was facing a new kind of national security threat, and had to act in a completely unique way in order to address it. Its adjustment in course, and new campaign against Wikileaks, has been extremely effective.

Not even a year has gone by, yet Wikileaks and founder Jullian Assange have been all but sterilized by events catalyzed by the United States government. Rather than attempting to beat Wikileaks on the digital battlegrounds they focused on the what is generally the weakest part of any organization – the human elements. This even applies to Assange, who had been notoriously personally courageous by putting his name, his personal safety, and really his entire being on the line for Wikileaks. But courage and one’s willingness to live out of a duffel bag is fleeting. The United States forced the the man to live like fugitive, something which he was certainly not accustom to. Feeling the net growing inevitably smaller Assange threw himself into the arms of the mainstream, and handed the United States a victory when he turned himself in.

With Wikileak’s public persona the light of the mainstream the United States could begin to take actions directly against Assange and Wikileaks in ways it was more familiar with. Some kind of high profile trial was not a good option, as it would further fan the flame public controversy. Instead, efforts would focus on cutting of Wikileak’s network of support, one limb at a time. Even organizations like Wikileaks must rely on large institutions, of which (as the largest and most powerful institution) the US has great influence over. The US could shut off a great deal of financial support by asking credit card companies, and PayPal to stop donations to Wikileaks. As for Assange himself, the goal would be to put him into a purgatory of sorts. This would turn Assange into a shadow of the man he once was. Now forced to live under house arrest, and check into a police station daily, he quickly lost his appeal as a symbol of courage and as a titillating news story. There would be no grand court case for reporters to cover, no official vindication or vilification, no story about an exciting international chase. Instead, there was an obviously farcical, and therefore boring case concerning allegations of rape and potential extradition.  In the end, the United States defeated Wikileaks by taking away its main asset – its ability to drum up hugely mainstream public controversy. This is death by masterful Public Relations.

Did you know there were hearings on Assange’s extradition on July 12-13th?

Wikileaks is slowly fading into the background. They have not broken headlines in recent memory. This is despite notable events: Visa accidentally opening up donations to Wikileaks, and progress being made on Assange’s legal status. Just a couple of months ago these stories would have been front-page news. Now they do not even reach the fringes of news aggregators, never mind front-page status. Ultimately it was the United States’ moves to bring Assange into the light of day, and to “let sleeping dogs lie” which proved to be the most successful. This may end up being an impressive story of the US’s ability to actually face the rapidly changing nature of national security threats via competent, nuanced, and nimble reactions. This is, of course, opposed to its typical lumbering, leviathan-esque ground pounding. Future efforts in the Muslim community, and the long-term result of Assange’s purgatory will be the real tests.

Read more posts like this on my blog, Colonize The Moon