TIME senior national correspondent Michael Grunwald sent out a controversial tweet Saturday evening that advocated for a drone missile strike against Wikileaks founder and Australian citizen Julian Assange.

Here's the tweet, which has been deleted:

Grunwald has apologized and TIME released a statement: "Michael Grunwald posted an offensive tweet from his personal Twitter account that is in no way representative of TIME's views. He regrets having tweeted it, and he removed it from his feed."

The ethically and legally questionable statement immediately received a flurry of responses.

Politico deputy editor Blake Hounshell:

Australian journalist and radio host Mark Colvin:

Guardian editor James Ball:



Kade Ellis of Privacy SOS:



GlobalPost editor Erin Cunningham:

Here's the apology:



It's unclear why Grunwald was discussing Assange — who is a publisher, writer, activist, and facilitator of leaking information — though WikiLeaks did just released a massive, encrypted insurance file.

Assange, a 42-year-old Australian citizen, recently told a Google hangout that libertarianism is the only useful American political philosophy.

“The libertarian aspect of the Republican Party is presently the only useful political voice really in the U.S. Congress,” Assange said.

Assange, who is currently residing in Ecuador's London embassy, was also instrumental in NSA whistleblower and leaker Edward Snowden flying to Russia.

In any case, Grunwald's stance is shocking.

