[rdtsc]

> were gauging the media response

It is not that uncommon to conduct those. They basically rely on the media to just publish verbatim the release. I would be very foolish of them not to use that capability to conduct disinformation campaigns and public response testing before a major operation for example.

As for assassination. I doubt they want to go that far in this case. Shaming and publicly discrediting him would be just as effective. They figured Wikileaks is riding a morality-based popularity at the moment. They are the righteous Robin-Hood type guys fighting a big, mean, empire. If they could just make them look "immoral" in any way they could deflate Julian's popularity balloon.

Not saying CIA is above assassinations. They have a track record to prove it. But I think in this case they not are ready to take it that far yet.