FAS

Der Spiegel on “Staatsfeind WikiLeaks”

02.09.11 | 1 min read | Text by Steven Aftergood

“Aftergood is too close to the center of power,” said Julian Assange.  “He is not an independent fighter for freedom of information.”

The passing criticism of me (I’m also “jealous”) was the first thing that caught my eye in the new book “Staatsfeind WikiLeaks” by Der Spiegel reporters Marcel Rosenbach and Holger Stark.  But the book itself is quite a bit more interesting and perceptive than that.

The authors, who are neither fans nor opponents of WikiLeaks, go out of their way to gather new information about the origins and development of the project.  They seek out contrasting perspectives and bring them to bear in interesting and challenging ways.  Of course, the story is unfinished.

“WikiLeaks is an organization in transition, with a dialectical relation to the mass media.  WikiLeaks has changed journalism, but journalism has also changed WikiLeaks,” they write.

See the Spiegel website on “Staatsfeind WikiLeaks” here.  An English-language excerpt, published last month, is here.

publications
See all publications
Government Capacity
Blog
A Research, Learning, and Opportunity Agenda for Rebuilding Trust in Government

At a recent workshop, we explored the nature of trust in specific government functions, the risk and implications of breaking trust in those systems, and how we’d known we were getting close to specific trust breaking points.

11.10.25 | 6 min read
read more
Education & Workforce
day one project
Policy Memo
Analytical Literacy First: A Prerequisite for AI, Data, and Digital Fluency

tudents in the 21st century need strong critical thinking skills like reasoning, questioning, and problem-solving, before they can meaningfully engage with more advanced domains like digital, data, or AI literacy.

11.07.25 | 13 min read
read more
Emerging Technology
day one project
Policy Memo
Behavioral Economics Megastudies are Necessary to Make America Healthy

When the U.S. government funds the establishment of a platform for testing hundreds of behavioral interventions on a large diverse population, we will start to better understand the interventions that will have an efficient and lasting impact on health behavior.

11.06.25 | 10 min read
read more
Global Risk
Press release
FAS Receives $500k Grant On Emerging Disruptive Technologies and Mobile Nuclear Launch Systems

The grant comes from the Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY) to investigate, alongside The British American Security Information Council (BASIC), the associated impact on nuclear stability.

11.06.25 | 3 min read
read more