Washington: CIA Director Mike Pompeo on Thursday called WikiLeaks a non-state "hostile intelligence service" often abetted by state actors, such as Russia during last year's presidential campaign.

"WikiLeaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service," Pompeo told an audience at a Washington think tank.

Russia's GRU intelligence service had used the anti-secrecy group to distribute hacked material during the 2016 US presidential election, he said.

WikiLeaks released Democratic emails during the 2016 presidential campaign that US intelligence agencies say were hacked by Russia to try to tilt the election against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in favour of Republican Donald Trump, the eventual winner.