It does not matter if the person that WIKILEAKS is a criminal, WIKILEAKS themselves are not.
But even if the Justice Department finds him, arrests him and extradites him, its work will be far from over. The U.S. government has never successfully prosecuted a media entity for a leak. It is typically much easier to bring such cases against the government officials who do the leaking, because they sign nondisclosure agreements surrendering many of the legal protections they otherwise would enjoy.
Just recently, the department tried to expand the scope of its leak prosecutions to individuals outside the government, in a test case involving two lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel group. I represented one of the lobbyists, who were indicted for leaking information that had been disclosed to them by high-level U.S. officials during discussions about the Middle East. The men were wiretapped for five years. They were investigated for another year. They were then indicted and spent the next three years skirmishing with the prosecution. And then, on the eve of the trial, the Justice Department dropped the charges.
Re: Free Press?
But even if the Justice Department finds him, arrests him and extradites him, its work will be far from over. The U.S. government has never successfully prosecuted a media entity for a leak. It is typically much easier to bring such cases against the government officials who do the leaking, because they sign nondisclosure agreements surrendering many of the legal protections they otherwise would enjoy.
Just recently, the department tried to expand the scope of its leak prosecutions to individuals outside the government, in a test case involving two lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel group. I represented one of the lobbyists, who were indicted for leaking information that had been disclosed to them by high-level U.S. officials during discussions about the Middle East. The men were wiretapped for five years. They were investigated for another year. They were then indicted and spent the next three years skirmishing with the prosecution. And then, on the eve of the trial, the Justice Department dropped the charges.
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/12/prosecuting_wikileaks_good_luc.html