The Guardian smear series
=========================

The Guardian smear series is John Kiriakou's characterisation of a run of articles about Julian Assange published in 2018.

The pattern he identified

Kiriakou was asked about a series of pieces he and his interviewers described as typical smear articles, distinguished by the fact that there was an entire series of them rather than one, and by their sourcing: anonymous sources who were themselves leaking information about intelligence agency activities, in this case about security provided to the embassy in Assange's defence. 

Put to him that leaking appeared acceptable when used to attack a whistleblower rather than to be one, Kiriakou answered: "welcome to my life." 

His account of leaking

Kiriakou's general claim is that the biggest leakers in Washington are the White House, the CIA and the FBI, and that this has been a fact of life since those organizations were created. His explanation of the motive is control: they leak to control the story, to control the debate and to influence public opinion. His summary of the distinction is that something is only a leak if it is something they do not like; if they like it, it is authorized. 

The Guardian specifically

Kiriakou said he had been very disappointed in the paper, noting that it had been one of the recipients of WikiLeaks material directly from the organization, and that for what is supposed to be a progressive paper to turn on Assange in that way was very disappointing. 

His reading of the purpose

Asked what the pile-on signified, Kiriakou answered that intelligence services worldwide are well schooled in psychological warfare, and that he took this to be a concerted, formal attempt to weaken Assange mentally, emotionally and perhaps physically, so as to make him give up. His view of the mechanism is that stories can be planted in whatever media are wanted and that people are gullible enough to believe what they read.  

See also

- Julian Assange
- Assange and solitary confinement
- Wikileaks as a System
- The Intercept
