Congressman says Wikileaks is a terrorist group

The incoming chairman of the US House of Representatives' Homeland Security Committee says Wikileaks should be officially designated as a terrorist organization.

Read: Could Wikileaks cause World War III

Republican representative Peter King of New York, the panel's next head, asked the Obama administration on Sunday to "determine whether Wikileaks could be designated a foreign terrorist organization", putting the group in the same company as Al Qaeda and Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese cult that released deadly sarin gas on the Tokyo subway.

The organization, which has started releasing US State Department diplomatic cables, "appears to meet the legal criteria" of a US-designated terrorist organization, King wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, reviewed by CNET News. "Wikileaks presents a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States."

For more on this story, read Congressman wants WikiLeaks listed as terrorist org on CNET News.