The U.S. Defense Department has formally demanded that Wikileaks return all military records in its possession. It has stated that the records are the “property of the U.S. government” and need to be returned. In response, Wikileaks posted a message on Twitter and called the Pentagon representative “obnoxious” and the request a “threat.”

“Obnoxious Pentagon spokesperson issues formal threat against WikiLeaks: Destroy everything, or else http://cs.pn/aOxf0Y. “

The document sharing group has been posting confidential information about the military and last week it posted about 100 MB of confidential dispatches from the US troops in Afghanistan. It appears that this has led many more Americans to believe that the war in Afghanistan is a mistake, which has in turn led to heated outcry in political circles. The White House has condemned the leak and said that the person who gave these documents to Wikileaks should be executed for treason. A number of conservative commentators have opined that Wikileaks.org should be shut down by any means necessary.

Geoff Morrell, the U.S. Defense department’s press secretary, said that the military “demands that Wikileaks return immediately to the U.S. government all versions of documents obtained directly or indirectly from the Department of Defense databases or records” and permanently delete them.According to him, “Wikileaks constitutes a brazen solicitation to U.S. government officials, including our military, to break the law.”

According to Wikileaks, submitting confidential material is “safe, easy, and protected by law.”

How the U.S. military would respond if Wikileaks ignores its request is not yet known but Morrell has stated that they will figure out what other alternatives they have to compel them to do the right thing.