Gingrich: Leaks show Obama administration 'shallow,' 'amateurish'

By Shane D'Aprile - 12/05/10 10:59 AM ET

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Sunday that President Obama and the White House deserve a large share of the blame for the massive amounts of classified information revealed through WikiLeaks.

Gingrich said the leaks are "a scandal of the first order" and that they demonstrate the Obama administration is "shallow" and "amateurish" when it comes to national security.

"You have a private first class who downloads a quarter million documents, and the system doesn't say, 'Oh, you may be over extended?' I mean, this is a system so stupid that it ought to be a scandal of the first order," Gingrich said. "This administration is so shallow and so amateurish about national security that it is painful and dangerous."

He also said the U.S needs to act fast in shutting down WikiLeaks and finding Julian Assange.

"Information warfare is warfare, and Julian Assange is engaged in warfare. Information terrorism, which leads to people getting killed, is terrorism, and Julian Assange is engaged in terrorism," said Gingrich. "He should be treated as an enemy combatant."

The Hill