( CNN ) -- For a website devoted to exposing secrets , WikiLeaks.org is pretty good at keeping its own . Not much is confirmed about exactly who founded it and runs it , who donates money to allow the five or so full-time people and hundreds of volunteers to keep it going , and where it all happens . Despite such murkiness , WikiLeaks has gained international notoriety since it started posting classified documents and other secret information from a European base in January 2007 . In April , video of a U.S. military helicopter strike in Iraq that killed two Reuters journalists raised questions about the attack , as well as how WikiLeaks got the military tapes . Now , rumors abound that WikiLeaks is poised to post more video of Americans at war , perhaps involving U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan that killed civilians and prompted a military report critical of what happened . The Pentagon has taken notice . In a secret 2008 report leaked to WikiLeaks , the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Center called the website a potential threat to U.S. forces and counterintelligence efforts . `` Recent unauthorized release of DoD ( Department of Defense ) sensitive and classified documents provide FISS ( foreign intelligence and security services ) , foreign terrorist groups , insurgents and other foreign adversaries with potentially actionable information for targeting U.S. forces , '' said the report posted on WikiLeaks . To Julian Assange , the website 's director and only public face , it 's all about providing information necessary for citizens to make decisions that shape their future . `` All the information in a society , all the happenings in a society , is relevant to choosing to support '' a government , political parties and particular leaders , Assange said in an interview posted on WikiLeaks on June 1 . More revealing was an April interview on the U.S. comedy show `` The Colbert Report , '' in which Assange acknowledged to host Stephen Colbert that the goal of posting secret documents was to gain the `` maximum possible political impact . '' For example , Assange told Colbert , he titled the video on the Iraqi helicopter strike that killed the Reuters journalists `` Collateral Murder '' because , he said , that 's what happened . At the same time , Assange said , WikiLeaks always provides to the public all the video or documents available so that viewers can decide for themselves . `` If people have a different opinion , the full material is there for them to analyze and assess , '' Assange told Colbert . WikiLeaks publishes anonymously submitted documents , video and other sensitive materials after vetting them , it says . It claims never to have fallen for a forgery . A scouring of Internet sources found some basic information about the website , including that it was started by a group of activists that included Chinese political dissidents and it survives on donations . Assange , an Australian journalist depicted in media reports as a former computer hacker , described WikiLeaks in a January interview as run by five or so full-time people supported by hundreds of volunteers . His work with WikiLeaks won Amnesty International 's 2009 UK Media Award in the new media category for `` Kenya : The Cry of Blood -- Extra Judicial Killings and Disappearances , '' a suppressed report on police killings by Kenya 's National Commission on Human Rights . In the January interview posted on the Medien-Okonomie-Blog , Assange described an almost covert operation with no headquarters that needs roughly $ 300,000 a year to function as a mostly volunteer organization . `` But there are people who ca n't afford to continue being involved full-time unless they are paid , '' he said , estimating the costs would approach $ 1 million year if that happened . He explained the value that WikiLeaks provides to the mainstream media by publishing otherwise unobtainable information . `` We take the most legally difficult part , which is not the story , but usually the backing documents , '' Assange said in the interview . `` As a result there is less chance of legal action against the publisher . '' For its own legal troubles , Assange said , WikiLeaks relies on lawyers donated by mainstream media outlets including The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times . The website 's biggest U.S. splash was the April posting of what it said was video from a U.S. helicopter involved in an attack in Baghdad that killed nine people -- including the two Reuters journalists -- and wounded two children . A U.S. Army intelligence analyst was arrested two months later , allegedly for leaking classified military information , the U.S. military said . The website Wired.com identified him as Spc . Bradley Manning , 22 , and said he had leaked the video of the helicopter assault . Wired.com reported that Manning confessed to the leak in a series of online chats with a former computer hacker . He allegedly owned up to leaking other items to WikiLeaks , including the classified Army document assessing the threat level of the website , as well as State Department cables , according to the article . Public airing of the video forced the Pentagon to defend the actions of its troops in a report that concluded the Apache helicopter crews had no way of knowing the journalists -- Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh -- were among suspected insurgents on the street . Now Assange is described as living on the run , and the Iceland Parliament has passed a proposal intended to make the country a haven for whistle-blowers such as WikiLeaks . CNN 's Richard Greene , Atika Shubert , Atia Abawi and Tom Cohen contributed to this report .
Rumors abound that WikiLeaks will soon post video footage of air strikes in Iraq . In April , website posted video of Iraq helicopter strike in WikiLeaks that killed journalists . Public face of Iraq , Colbert , says goal is to help an informed public make better decisions .