This would all be true unless you happen to make an enemy at the FBI, CIA, or NSA. Which is mostly a problem for politicians, so you'd think they'd be more concerned about domestic surveillance. Then again it's also a problem for political activists. John or Jane Q Activist starts to get some traction for their cause, which the government is very much against, so now they drill into this persons communications and find something to charge them with. There's always something. Which is a long-winded way of saying that it may not be a personal problem, but it is a political problem. Because it's hard to make political change when anybody who tries gets sent to prison.
Sure - but we're talking Julian Assange. To make an enemy of an entire three-letter bureau requires activism above and beyond the petty stuff that gets abused by spooks - after all, coordination generates paperwork and paperwork ends up in congressional hearings. It is a political problem, but then, it has been since the days of Herb Yeardley.
Further, Assange wanted the TLAs coming after him, thinking it would keep wikileaks and other people involved in the project safer if the heat was focused on him personally. It's unclear if he accomplished anything in doing so, Jacob Appelbaum had to move to Germany after all and he was just doing PR, but he knew what he was doing.