Rep. King calls for Wikileaks to be classified 'terrorist organization'

Wikileaks, the website that was responsible for leaking thousands of documents related to U.S. diplomacy, should be classified as a terrorist organization, according to U.S. Representative Peter King, CNet News reported.

King, who is the incoming Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, asked the Obama administration on Sunday to determine whether WikiLeaks could be designated a foreign terrorist organization, the website reported.

Wikileaks appears to meet the legal criteria, of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, King wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, CNet reported.

It is the third time in the past three months that Wikileaks has released classified documents related to the U.S. The website had released classified war logs from Afghanistan and Iraq earlier this year, causing much embarrassment to the U.S. government.

The documents had suggested that evidence about torture and the death of civilians in Iraq was ignored. The release also drew severe negative reactions from Iraq, which accused Wikileaks of trying to sabotage attempts to form a new government in the region.

The latest batch of documents were released to five media organizations across the world, including The New York Times, U.K.'s The Guardian and the German Spiegel magazine.

The release drew much criticism from various quarters. The White House issued a statement stating that these 'cables could compromise private discussions with foreign governments and opposition leaders, and when the substance of private conversations is printed on the front pages of newspapers across the world, it can deeply impact not only US foreign policy interests, but those of our allies and friends around the world.

If Wikileaks is added to the terrorist list, which contains organizations like Al-Qaeda, it would stop donations to the site, as well as cut off any volunteers to the website - two main factors helping the website.

Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, also urged the Obama administration to shut down Wikileaks before it could do more damage by releasing additional cables. Wikileaks' activities represent a shared threat to collective international security, CNet reported.