Building a WikiLeaks That Would Last

I recently argued that while WikiLeaks' activities may be decentralized, it appears that its leadership under Julian Assange is not, and that makes the organization vulnerable. So, how might you build a better WikiLeaks?

Make it look more like Al Qaeda.

Given the controversial nature of its activities and the tendency to make powerful enemies, you’d need a WikiLeaks that could function well even when one or more pieces or people were out of commission. WikiLeaks would be better off if there were actually multiple WikiLeaks organizations. For example, WikiLeaks could be a network of regional groups unified by common goals, principles, and shared methods for doing the work, but functionally independent. In organizational parlance, this is what’s called an affiliate network, and it’s common in the nonprofit world and among social movements. Contrast an affiliate network with a branch structure where there are multiple locations that are wholly controlled by a central entity, kind of like McDonalds or Starbucks. (There's plenty of research about how affiliate models can best be used.)

In the WikiLeaks affiliate model, the regional groups would receive sensitive leaks, process them, and take responsibility for posting them to various sites that they maintain themselves. The idea would be to create a system where a WikiLeaks affiliate wouldn’t be responsible for what another one does, and where a leak might be routed toward an affiliate best placed to withstand blowback when governments become rabid. For example, I’m sure the anti-American government of Venezuela would be very happy to host an affiliate bent on embarrassing the United States by leaking thousands of diplomatic cables. And I could imagine a WikiLeaks affiliate in the U.S. or Western Europe that would be able to publish leaks damaging to China or Russia.

A central public figure like Julian Assange would be best suited to tasks that a central headquarters often handles in an affiliate model:

• Acting as a central communicator/evangelist for the network
• Making sure everyone is adhering to the core standards of what it means to be part of the network
• Training people
• Helping affiliates keep up with the latest technology and methods for doing their work

If such a system sounds vaguely familiar, it should be. Al Qaeda has many of the same features. Al Qaeda's network is comprised of affiliates that may have only a loose relationship with the core. And they've clearly learned to function on their own no matter what happens elsewhere.

One last thought: making the move to an affiliate model requires giving up a certain amount of central control. For WikiLeaks, that doesn’t seem all that likely based accounts of the way the group has been operating. And that may be a good thing.