McCain calls for prosecution of leaker, slams WikiLeaks

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Monday that charges should be brought against the source who leaked thousands of documents to WikiLeaks.

McCain, the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee and a proponent of the war in Afghanistan, said the leak was a “serious breach of national security.”

“The source of this harmful leak within the U.S. government should face the full penalties of the law,” McCain said in a statement.

The Arizona Republican also slammed WikiLeaks, the website that obtained the documents from the original source and distributed them to a handful of news organizations.

“This biased organization seeks to undermine the achievement of a vital national security interest that more than one thousand Americans have already given their lives to safeguard,” McCain said. “This is the height of irresponsibility, and all involved should be ashamed of themselves.”

Nevertheless, he dismissed the content of the documents as “old news.”

“The emerging picture from this leak adds up to little more than what we knew already — that the war in Afghanistan was deteriorating over the past several years, and that we were not winning,” McCain lamented.

“This is why a concerted effort has been made since 2009, both in the Administration and in the Congress, to make changes to our strategy, to increase our commitment of troops and resources, and to bring new and better leadership to the mission.”