Julian Assange posed ‘no real security threat’ to Australia

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange has been an ''irritant'' and ''a gadfly'' but not a significant security threat, according to former Australian intelligence and security officials.

Former government officials say only one of the 1400 US diplomatic cables relating to Australia published by WikiLeaks caused any major security concern, and no one was harmed as a consequence.

This relatively relaxed view of Mr Assange undercuts assertions by former prime minister Julia Gillard who said that WikiLeaks' release of leaked cables was ''a grossly irresponsible thing to do, and an illegal thing to do.''

Former security and intelligence officers say that while WikiLeaks' disclosures in 2010 and 2011 were embarrassing to the government ''no great harm was done''. ''Assange proved more an irritant or a gadfly than anything else,'' one former intelligence officer said. By comparison former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden's leaks are considered to be ''much, much more damaging''.

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Only one US embassy cable leaked to WikiLeaks by US soldier Chelsea Manning, formerly Bradley Manning, caused high level concern - a January 2010 list of 23 Australians suspected of terrorist connections by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Officials urged Ms Gillard in November 2010 to condemn the release of ''ASIO-derived information''. But the cable wasn't published until WikiLeaks' full release of US cables in September 2011.

Top secret intelligence documents leaked by Mr Snowden and reported on last week by American journalist Glenn Greenwald show Mr Assange was listed in a US National Security Agency ''Manhunting Timeline'' recording efforts to eliminate terrorists and other threats to US national security.

The timeline states that in August 2010, shortly after WikiLeaks published thousands of US military reports on the war in Afghanistan, the US government ''urged other nations with forces in Afghanistan, including Australia, United Kingdom, and Germany to consider filing criminal charges against Julian Assange.''

Former attorney-general Robert McClelland has said he received ''no such request'' from the US, though he did not rule out it had pressed for criminal charges in discussions between officials.

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Julian Assange posed 'no real security threat' to Australia