U.S. Treasury: We Can't Blacklist WikiLeaks
Rep. Peter King (R-NY) was among the many politicians publicly enraged by WikiLeaks documents dump of U.S. diplomatic cables, likening it to a military act of aggression.
King, Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, asked the U.S. Treasury Department to add WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange to its economic blacklist, or sanctions list. Doing so would have given WikiLeaks the same designation as terrorist groups.
On Friday, the Treasury Department said no.
"We do not have evidence at this time as to Julian Assange or Wikileaks meeting criteria under which [Treasury] may designate persons and place them on the" sanctions list, a Treasury representative said in a statement.
The Treasury administers but doesn't create the criteria for sanctions; that power comes either legislatively or by executive order, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Author Wendy Kaminer describes the Treasury's blacklist in The Atlantic as follows:
"Conducting business, or providing any economic assistance to a blacklisted entity, even unknowingly, no matter how trivial, is a violation of federal law, for which you too may be blacklisted, losing access to all your property and interests in the U.S. Blacklisting is enabled by a network of federal statutes and executive orders, which requires study to begin to understand."
Kaminer says King's request for blacklisting Assange and WikiLeaks came in response to reports of Assange's million-dollar book deal with American publisher Knopf.