The strange case of Julian Assange bears some reflection for us all. If you haven’t been paying attention, Assange is the Australian founder of the controversial website WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks recently released a barrage of classified communiques between various high-ranking U.S. military and State Department officials.

The release of these documents, believed to have been leaked to Assange by a solitary U.S. soldier, has prompted outrage in the U.S. government and threats of prosecution.

So far, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder cannot say what U.S. law or laws Assange may have broken. Meanwhile, Assange was arrested in London this week on a European arrest warrant issued by Interpol, the international police agency.

Sweden wants Assange for questioning on sex charges involving two women — one involved in Swedish politics — that Assange allegedly had sex with in two different incidents. Also at issue is a Swedish-only law that involves sexual consent and condoms, which requires condoms during sex.

Elements of the story are so scandalous the so-called “mainstream media” — now a dubious handle at best — can hardly resist.

We believe Assange should answer the Swedish authorities’ questions in Sweden.

If he has broken any Swedish laws, he should stand accountable to the Swedes. He was, after all, a guest in their country promoting his website at the time these alleged incidents occurred. So far, he has not been charged with any crime and, if he is innocent, why not speak to the investigators?

Some U.S. officials have argued the release of classified information has put lives at risk and given terrorists new ideas. Both those arguments are difficult to prove.

Terrorists will get new ideas and targets one way or the other and the lives of U.S. diplomats, or those providing information to them, are in constant jeopardy.

If U.S. officials suspect Assange has broken U.S. espionage laws in the process of leaking information, Holder should charge him and proceed to extradite him to this country.

At the core of the WikiLeaks story, though, is the ability of today’s technology to allow classified information to be unlawfully transferred, leaked in large quantities and disseminated very quickly to an international audience.

Twenty years ago the state of technology prohibited leaks like the ones Assange has made famous, and it would have been physically impossible for a young soldier to transfer hundreds of thousands of documents — including personal financial information — out of a secure facility, as Pfc. Bradley Manning is believed to have done.

Manning, who has been charged with unauthorized use and disclosure of classified documents under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, has been held at the Marine Corps Brig in Quantico since July.

Among the items he is believed to have provided WikiLeaks is the so-called Collateral Murder video of a U.S. helicopter shooting Iraqi civilians and two Reuters journalists during an air strike in 2007.

The U.S. government was quick to charge Manning, but beyond the issue of whether officials decide to charge Assange with criminal activities, it should now work quickly to ensure better security for classified records.

U.S. officials have been more focused on their outrage toward Assange than on accepting some level of blame for failing to secure this information.

Yes, a young soldier is believed to have stolen the information and Assange distributed it on a grand scale.

But, ultimately, it is the responsibility of government to keep its classified records reliably confidential, which our government dramatically failed to do.

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