WikiLeaks starts publishing emails of US intelligence firm

Whistleblowing website WikiLeaks yesterday said, it had started publishing over 5 million confidential emails from US-based intelligence firm Stratfor.

The messages, which date from between July 2004 and December 2011, will reveal Stratfor's "web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods," WikiLeaks claimed in a press release.

"The material shows how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients," added the press release.

According to the messages Dow Chemicals used Stratfor to monitor and analyse the online activities of activists seeking redressal for the 1984 Dow Chemical / Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal.

WikiLeaks claims to have in its possession proof of Stratfor's confidential links to large corporations, including Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co, Lockheed Martin and government agencies, as also the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defense Intelligence Agency.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is wanted for questioning on rape and sexual assault allegations in Sweden. Currently in Britain, he is fighting extradition to that country, from where he would be quickly sent to the US he fears.