Who Is WikiLeaks' Founder Julian Assange?

(CBS)  The fallout from WikiLeaks' posting of secret diplomatic cables continues as the state department has moved to stop the leaks by tightening access to its computer files.

CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports on Tuesday, the Wikileaks website was attacked by unknown hackers. WikiLeaks' founder, Julian Assange, told Time magazine Sec. of State Hillary Clinton should resign if it's proved she ordered American diplomats to spy on U.N. officials.

As for Assange, he's in hiding. He's made plenty of enemies. Love him or loathe him, he provokes passionate debate.

Assange was born in Townsville, Australia, in 1971, raised by his mother and said to be fiercely intelligent.

He was homeschooled and a skilled computer hacker while still in his teens.

By 2007 he had founded WikiLeaks to expose bureaucratic secrets globally but it was in 2010 that he and the site rocketed to fame with a video posted online showing an attack on Iraqi insurgents that killed both journalists and civilians.

Assange stepped into the spotlight to defend the leak and the rumor mill went wild calling him a control freak who slept in a different place every night.

He was even named in a rape case in Sweden and added to Interpol's wanted list.

At a panel discussion in London, Palmer asked him how he liked the attention.

Elizabeth Palmer: "You have become the story almost despite yourself and I think that we'd all like to hear what you have to say about that."

Julian Assange: "So you want me to become even more part of the story?"

Palmer: "I do."

Assange: "Well, people say, don't you find all this attention on you annoying and very difficult? Well, yes it's annoying, yes it is very difficult."

If it's so difficult, what makes him tick? Colleagues say conviction.

"What comes across is a very firm, very firm belief that secrets are not often a good thing. And that society doesn't benefit from secrets," says Frontline Club founder Vaughn Smith.

This is a man with a mission to keep on leaking. Up next for WikiLeaks he says is thousands of documents from some of the world's biggest banks.

More on the Wikileaks Diplomatic Cables:

Wikileaks Sends U.S. Scrambling Over Security
Leaked Cables Reveal Locations of European Nukes
Hoekstra on WikiLeaks: "A Number of Time Bombs"
Outrage Over Wikileaks
The WikiLeaks Impact
WikiLeaks Releases State Dept. Documents
Key GOP Pol: WikiLeaks a Terrorist Group
Ahmadinejad Dismisses WikiLeaks Cable "Mischief"
U.S. Cables: Iran Armed Hezbollah Via Ambulances
Hoekstra: World's Trust in U.S. Now at Risk
U.S. Encouraged Diplomats to Spy, Leaks Show
Leaked Cables Shine Light on Iran Nuclear Threat
Worldwatch: Embarrassing Revelations Abound
Worldwatch: Diplomatic Shockers
White House Condemns WikiLeaks' Document Release
WikiLeaks Defies U.S., Releases Embassy Cables

Links to Leaked Cables:

Cables Shine Light Into Secret Diplomatic Channels (NYT)
The US Embassy Cable (Guardian)
A Superpower's View of the World (Spiegel, in English)
Los papeles del Departamento de Estado (El Pais)
Wikileaks: Dans les coulisses de la diplomatie americaine (Le Monde)

[ubdajdge1984]

voxpopulus, it's traitor not trader. now if he's really a trader, i wish someone would trade a dummy like you to those communist countries that do not respect freedom of information. yep, the ones that hang news reporters. you would fit in quite nicely with the like of them.

[Red_feather]

What wiki supplied was the integrity of our corrupt and rude speaking politicians when they thought no one was listening.

[edmundsingleton]

In the future there will be more Wikileaks and that is a good thing...

[ffoulkes-2009]

Only a good thing for the enemies of the U.S.

[DocD--2008]

"Secrets Are "Not Often a Good Thing,"

and yet you hide you scumbag. Come out of hiding, we want to talk about YOUR secrets.

[Nothing-New]

I suppose he should stick his head straight into the noose?

The mans personal life has already been revealed in several news outlets. The fact that he is in "hiding," (It has actually been confirmed that he is in plain sight- the British police know exactly where he is stationed) would be understandable if it were true, considering the uninformed, ignorant masses composed of people such as yourself who are ready to thoughtlessly burn him at the stake.

[nomossonmyrocks]

Murdoch and Assange are both from Australia. I wonder? Hmmmm.....

[ProsperityBeginsIn2012]

Read your comment again to see how stupid it is.

[longtree-2009]

other than embarrassing many all over the world, wikileaks assange has not really done any harm. no governments have toppled, no massive rioting or strikes, no huge military groups have come under relentless attack, and etc. wikileaks has just embarrassed many all over the world. so far, it's not a big deal.

[ffoulkes-2009]

There are still some 200k docs he is releasing over the next months. I'll reserve judgement on damage done till I see what is released.

Either way, he is in posession of stolen files and is releasing them publicly which is a crime.

[Harden_Tar]

I bet he would like the fact that he is a sexual predator remain a secret. He needs to spend a couple decades at the gray bar hotel.

[ffoulkes-2009]

I would settle for just ten seconds in a crosshair.

[ffoulkes-2009]

Enza,

You, being the enemy to America that you are, I care as little for your comments as I would The nutcases in charge of NK and Iran. Have a nice day.

[ffoulkes-2009]

Who is he? Why, he is an attention w h.ore. He is not doing this to make the world better, but rather to make himself richer.

[ffoulkes-2009]

There is nothing altruistic about trying to bring the United States to a state of war with several nations. This guy is causing problems just so he can have the lime-light, and possibly due to a hatred of the US.

You two have something in common in that.

[ffoulkes-2009]

Enza, you have only seen the first 1% of the cables. He intends to release the other 200+ thousand over the next few months. What do you suppose might be in those?

They are not his to release.

[rickwarre]

Julian Assange is not a traitor. The real traitors? Those doing the leaking.

Think about it--a lotThe State department NOW says it will tighten security the Army says information was stolen with a cd and a flash drive? Where are the controls? Where is the security? Folks, it's window dressing security.

As to Julian? Well a little truth never hurt anyone except those hiding from the truth.

[Rajah88]

Julian Assange and Wikileaks have done American citizens a service by making it plain that OUR GOVERNMENT and MILITARY are incompetent and corrupt. OUR GOVERNMENT and MILITARY support that which they CLAIM to oppose.

It is YOUR MONEY being wasted and your sons and daughters dying, folks.

Julian Assange and Wikileaks are NOT the bad guys here. It is our military and our government that are corrupt. They should be held accountable.

The American People have failed to do our job of overseeing government and the military. We owe Assange and Wikileaks a THANK YOU for having done OUR JOB.

[AVRWEBGUY]

Thank you Rajah88. This is the first intelligent non-reactionary comment I have read regarding this issue. It is and has always been the responsibility of the American People to keep its government in check. We have not done so as is obvious in the leaked documents. We Americans seem content to remain ignorant and in the dark when it comes to what our government truly does. Remember, a true patriot will challenge its government when that government does not follow it's own rule of law. Thanks Julian for having the courage to do what most Americans will not!