A day after a number of national and international businesses including Mastercard and Visa, acting under pressure from the U.S. Senate, refused to do business with Wikileaks on the grounds that they are violating the law - someone in the Senate has finally offered which law, specifically, Wikileaks is alleged to have broken:

The law Mr. Assange continues to violate is the Espionage Act of 1917. That law makes it a felony for an unauthorized person to possess or transmit "information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation."

Is this correct? How is Wikileaks differentiated from the NYT? If this is correct, why hasn't the Obama admin charged Julian Assange under this statute?

In light of the actions taken by various companies to shut down this website and the implications for freedom of speech the question of legality is vitally important.