CIA Reportedly Considered Assassination, Kidnapping of Julian Assange

The Central Intelligence Agency considered plots to either kidnap or assassinate Australian journalist Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks in 2017, according to new reporting from Yahoo News published on Sunday.

Wikileaks’ publication of information related to CIA hacking tools set off a renewed antipathy against the journalist within the intelligence agency. CIA personnel went so far as to ask for “sketches” or “options” for a possible assassination plot targeting Assange. The Wikileaks founder resided in the UK’s Ecuadorian Embassy at the time as a means to evade arrest by British authorities.

Around the same time, CIA personnel were monitoring video surveillance footage of Assange associates and Assange himself, seeking means to disrupt Wikileaks by sowing internal discord within the organization.