Internal emails disclosed by Anonymous and WikiLeaks suggest that Stratfor, a private intelligence firm working with the U.S. Justice Department, has information about a confidential “sealed indictment” for the arraignment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

“We have a sealed indictment on Assange. Pls protect,” read an email from Stratfor Vice President Fred Burton.

Aside from the apparent fact that the Justice Department convened a grand jury to indict Assange out of public view, what is perhaps most disturbing is that an arm of the U.S. government used a private company to handle sensitive federal matters. And the Justice Department is not alone. The Marines and the Department of Homeland Security have enlisted Stratfor for work as well. In the words of Michael Ratner, president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a legal adviser to Assange, “what you see is the privatization of essentially the CIA operating in the United States.”

See WikiLeaks’ press release on its publication of Stratfor’s “Global Intelligence Files” here. –ARK

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#anonymous#center for constitutional rights#cia#democracy now#department of justice#eric holder#julian assange#michael ratner#privatization#secret#stratfor#wikileaks