The Hill News

The ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee has called for the prosecution of the source of the Wikileaks controversy, saying that the leak amounts to a treasonous act and has put the lives of Americans at risk.

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) told Don Imus on “Imus in the Morning” that the recent leak of more than 93,000 sensitive documents on the site Wikileaks.org was “disgraceful.”

“It violates espionage laws. I consider it treason,” said King. “The fact is, whatever happened here and whoever gave them that information is guilty, to me, of the most detestable, contemptible crime, and we have to take it seriously.

“We're not going to allow it to happen again. And this guy, whoever he is, a staff sergeant or whoever it is, but whoever they find out did it has to prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law. I mean, it's not funny business. This is for real.”

Though King acknowledged t! hat there was no specific information that was revealed that had previously been unknown, he said that U.S. enemies are now going to be able to analyze those records.

“When you have American lives on the line, whether you support the war, oppose the war, the fact is there's American men and women putting their lives on the line,” said King. “And for anyone to think that he has the right to disclose secret information and put their lives at risk is absolutely disgraceful.”