It might be fair to say that Julian Assange encompassed the roles of journalist, editor and publisher in the same person, which is perhaps not the optimal setup although it's more or less what everyone publishing their work on substack does - but that's not a justification of state persecution.

It's undeniable that Wikileak's publication of the CableGate archive of State Department cables and the Vault7 archive of CIA hacking tool documentation was in the public interest. Some of the more important revelations include that the CIA has tools apparently designed for false-flag cyberattacks, that the State Department's claim to be concerned about human rights and democracy is not reflected in the content of their secret cables (which tend to focus on things like oil pipelines, arms deals, terrorist financing, economic deals, geopolitical maneuvering, etc.).

You might not like it, but it is legitimate journalism as the word is commonly defined.

I do understand that neocons see limitations on domestic civil liberties as an arms race that they're losing to China and Russia, but this version of the Missile Gap is still largely a myth meant to secure the continual state financing of military and intelligence contractors.