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Chelsea Manning

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Pfc. Bradley E. Manning
Born1987
Crescent, Oklahoma
NationalityAmerican
OccupationSoldier in the United States Army
Known forUnited States diplomatic cables leak

Template:Wikinews2 Private First Class Bradley E. Manning (born 1987) is a United States Army soldier who has been arrested and charged with the unauthorized use and disclosure of U.S. classified information.

Manning was an intelligence analyst assigned to a support battalion with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division at Contingency Operating Station Hammer, Iraq. Agents of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command arrested Manning based on information received from federal authorities provided by an American informant, Adrian Lamo, in whom Manning had previously confided.[1][2][3] Lamo said that Manning claimed, via instant messaging, to be the person who had leaked the "Collateral Murder" video of the July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike, in addition to a video of the Granai airstrike and around 260,000 diplomatic cables, to the whistleblower website Wikileaks, with Manning saying he hoped the release of the videos and documents would lead to "worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms."[4][5][6] The AP has described Manning as an alleged whistleblower.[7] The Obama administration called the release "reckless and dangerous" and stated that the information "put at risk not only the cause of human rights but the lives and work of these individuals" and expressed concern people who work with the U.S. overseas will be the victims of retaliation once WikiLeaks identifies them.[8]

Manning was arrested in May 2010 and confined to a military base in Kuwait for more than a month while the allegations were investigated. On July 5, 2010, Manning was charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice with violations of Article 92 and Article 134, for "transferring classified data onto his personal computer and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system," and "communicating, transmitting and delivering national defense information to an unauthorized source".[2][7] The maximum possible prison sentence for the charges is 52 years.[1] An Army spokesman stated that an Article 32 hearing, similar to a grand jury, would be held to determine whether or not there was enough evidence to proceed to a court-martial.[1] Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, stated that if indeed it is the case, as alleged by the Pentagon, that the young soldier - Bradley Manning - is behind some of our recent disclosures, then he is without doubt an "unparalleled hero".[9]

Background

Bradley Manning was born in Crescent, Oklahoma, to an American father and a Welsh mother. His parents had met when his father was stationed at Cawdor Barracks in Wales. Manning spent his early childhood in Oklahoma, but moved with his mother to southwest Wales at the age of 13 when his parents divorced.[10] He had troubles fitting in at school and what former acquaintances have described as a troubled childhood.[11]

Manning dropped out of school at 16 and returned to the United States, working at a pizza parlor. He enlisted in the United States Army at 18, becoming an intelligence analyst deployed in support of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division at Contingency Operating Station Hammer, Iraq.[12]

Manning had social difficulties in the Army, which were attributed to the problems of being homosexual under the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy.[11] Before being arrested, Manning had been demoted from Specialist to Private First Class for assaulting another soldier and was scheduled to be discharged early.[5][13]

Acquisition of classified material

While stationed in Iraq, Manning had access to SIPRNET from his workstation, from where it is alleged the leaked documents originated.[14] According to chat logs, Manning brought in CD-RWs containing music, which were subsequently erased and rewritten with the leaked documents.[12]

Partial release of chat logs and stated motivations

Manning allegedly told former hacker Adrian Lamo via instant messaging that he had leaked the "Collateral Murder" video of the July 12, 2007, Baghdad airstrike in addition to a video of the Granai airstrike and around 260,000 diplomatic cables, to the whistleblower website Wikileaks.[5][6] Lamo turned over the purported instant messenger chat logs to U.S. investigators (calling it an "act of conscience"[5][6]), who began searching for evidence to determine whether Manning's apparent statements to Lamo were true.[3] The "Collateral Murder" video showed a series of attacks by a U.S. helicopter crew, who had been assigned the task of protecting an infantry company by clearing out insurgents.[15] In the first two attacks, two children were wounded, and several men were killed, including the father of the children and two men who were later identified as Reuters employees.[2][16][17] The video showed a third strike in which the same helicopter crew destroyed a building, reportedly killing several people including children.[18] Manning reportedly said that the diplomatic documents expose "almost criminal political back dealings"; that they explain "how the first world exploits the third, in detail";[19][13] and that he hoped the release of the videos and documents would lead to "worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms."[4] Manning reportedly wrote, "Everywhere there's a U.S. post, there's a diplomatic scandal that will be revealed."[5] Wikileaks said "allegations in Wired that we have been sent 260,000 classified US embassy cables are, as far as we can tell, incorrect."[19][20] Several months later, Wikileaks released some 250,000 individual cables, the daily traffic between the U.S. State Department and more than 270 American diplomatic outposts around the world, to international news organizations, who started reporting on them on November 28, 2010.[21]

Wired released apparent excerpts from the chat logs between Manning and Lamo on June 10, 2010.[4] The order of events is not made clear from the excerpts, and significant material appears to be missing.[4][22][23] On June 19, Boing Boing published what they called a "slightly less redacted version" of the chat logs.[22]

In the logs, Manning explains his growing disillusionment with the U.S. Army and foreign policy.[4] He gives one example of being assigned the task of evaluating the arrest of Iraqis for allegedly publishing "anti Iraq" literature, only to discover that the writings were in fact scholarly critique of corruption in the cabinet of Iraq Prime Minister Al-Maliki titled "Where Did the Money Go?".[24] He reportedly said to Lamo, "I immediately took that information and ran to the officer to explain what was going on. He didn’t want to hear any of it. He told me to shut up and explain how we could assist the FPs in finding MORE detainees."[4] Manning reportedly characterized some of the allegedly leaked cables to Lamo as, "explaining how the first world exploits the third, in detail, from an internal perspective."[13]

Manning apparently asked Lamo "if you had free reign over classified networks for long periods of time ... say, 8–9 months ... and you saw incredible things, awful things ... things that belonged in the public domain, and not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington DC ... what would you do? ... say ... a database of half a million events during the Iraq war ... from 2004 to 2009 ... with reports, date time groups, lat-lon locations, casualty figures ... ? or 260,000 state department cables from embassies and consulates all over the world..."[22] Manning apparently told of his discovery of the Collateral Murder video and his subsequent research into the July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike: "at first glance ... it was just a bunch of guys getting shot up by a helicopter ... no big deal ... about two dozen more where that came from right ... but something struck me as odd with the van thing ... and also the fact it was being stored in a JAG officer's directory... so i looked into it ... eventually tracked down the date, and then the exact GPS co-ord ... and i was like ... ok, so thats what happened."[4]

Manning wrote, "event occurs in 2007, i watch video in 2009 with no context, do research, forward information to group of FOI activists, more research occurs, video is released in 2010, those involved come forward to discuss event, i witness those involved coming forward."[4] In the logs Manning wrote, "lets just say *someone* i know intimately well, has been penetrating US classified networks, mining data like the ones described ... and been transferring that data from the classified networks over the "air gap" onto a commercial network computer ... sorting the data, compressing it, encrypting it, and uploading it to a crazy white haired aussie who can't seem to stay in one country very long".[22] Manning explained to Lamo his motive for releasing the material: "I want people to see the truth ... because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public."[7]

Lamo told Associated Press that he gave the chat logs to Army criminal investigators after consulting with a friend who had worked in Army counterintelligence. Lamo said that "it was a combination of an act of conscience and an act spurred by my understanding of the law," Lamo said. "I did this because I thought what he was doing was very dangerous."[7]

Arrest and criminal charges

Manning was arrested by agents of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command in May 2010 and held in pre-trial confinement in a military jail at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.[1][2][3] On July 5, 2010, two misconduct charges were brought against him for "transferring classified data onto his personal computer and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system" and "communicating, transmitting and delivering national defense information to an unauthorized source".[2][7] The charges included unauthorized access to Secret Internet Protocol Routers network computers, download of more than 150,000 United States Department of State diplomatic cables, download of a classified PowerPoint presentation, and downloading a classified video of a military operation in Baghdad on July 12, 2007. Manning is also charged for forwarding the video and at least one of the cables to an unauthorized person.[25] The maximum jail sentence is 52 years.[1]

Manning faces a pretrial hearing under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, following which his lawyer expects a court-martial in the spring of 2011.[10][1]

Wikileaks have refused to identify Manning as the source of the leaks, but claim that their effort to arrange for Manning's legal defense was rebuffed, a claim the military has denied.[19][6][26][27][1]

Manning has selected former military attorney David Coombs to lead his defense team. Coombs had previously defended US Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar, who was convicted of killing two officers in an attack in 2003 while serving in Kuwait.[28] Manning has been held at the Marine Corps Brig, Quantico since July 29, 2010.[29][10]

Afghan War Diary

Main article: Afghan War Diary

Manning has been considered a "person of interest" in the leak of over 90,000 documents to Wikileaks pertaining to the War in Afghanistan, which were released to the public on July 25, 2010.[30]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Jardin, Xeni (6 July 2010). "US Army: alleged Wikileaks source Manning faces 52 years". Boing Boing. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e "US soldier charged over Apache Wikileaks video". ABC News. Agence France-Presse. 7 July 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  3. ^ a b c Poulsen, Kevin; Zetter, Kim (16 June 2010). "Three Weeks After Arrest, Still No Charges In Wikileaks Probe". Wired. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Poulsen, Kevin; Zetter, Kim (10 June 2010). "'I Can't Believe What I'm Confessing to You': The Wikileaks Chats". Wired. Retrieved 15 June 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |newspaper= (help)
  5. ^ a b c d e Poulsen, Kevin; Zetter, Kim (6 June 2010). "U.S. Intelligence Analyst Arrested in Wikileaks Video Probe". Wired. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  6. ^ a b c d "US intelligence analyst arrested over security leaks". BBC News. 7 June 2010. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  7. ^ a b c d e Dishneau, David. "Alleged Army whistleblower felt angry and alone". ABC news. Associated Press. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  8. ^ "US Government Reacts to Latest WikiLeaks Document Dump". ABC News Radio. 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  9. ^ "Julian Assange answers your questions". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  10. ^ a b c Robert Booth; Heather Brooke; Steven Morris (30 November 2010). "WikiLeaks cables: Bradley Manning faces 52 years in jail". Guardian. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  11. ^ a b Thompson, Ginger (8 August 2010). "Early Struggles of Soldier Charged in Leak Case". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
  12. ^ a b Drury, Ian (29 November 2010). "Downloaded onto Lady Gaga CDs and transferred to a memory stick: The staggeringly simple theft of 250,000 top secret documents". Daily Mail. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  13. ^ a b c Nakashima, Ellen (10 June 2010). "Messages from alleged leaker Bradley Manning portray him as despondent soldier". The Washington Post. Retrieved 15 June 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |newspaper= (help)
  14. ^ Should PFC Bradley Manning Spend The Rest Of His Life In Prison? (Flash Video FLV) (YouTube). ABCNews.com. 29 November 2010. In Iraq, Manning had a window on virtually the whole world of U.S. intelligence from his computer worstation, which gave him access to SIPRNET
  15. ^ Cohen, Tom (7 April 2010). "Leaked video reveals chaos of Baghdad attack". CNN. Retrieved 7 April 2010. The two photojournalists were Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen. ... Chmagh surviving the initial shooting, but apparently he died when the gunship opened fire on people attempting to get him to a van that arrived, apparently to collect the wounded.
  16. ^ Cohen, Noam; Stelter, Brian (6 April 2010). "Video expands notoriety of WikiLeaks site". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 7 July 2010. left 12 people dead, including two Reuters news-agency employees ... (The Pentagon defended the killings and said no disciplinary action was taken at the time of the incident. ... Reuters had tried for 2 ½ years through the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the Iraq video, to no avail. ... WikiLeaks .. used the label "Collateral Murder"
  17. ^ "Video shows 'U.S. attack' on Iraqis". Al Jazeera English. 6 April 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  18. ^ Khatchadourian, Raffi (7 June 2010). "No Secrets". The New Yorker. Retrieved 10 July 2010.
  19. ^ a b c Sheridan, Michael (7 June 2010). "Report: Soldier arrested for allegedly leaking 'Collateral Murder' helicopter video to WikiLeaks". Daily News. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  20. ^ Fildes, Jonathan (7 June 2010). "Hacker explains why he reported 'Wikileaks source'". BBC News. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  21. ^ See A Note to Readers: The Decision to Publish Diplomatic Documents
  22. ^ a b c d Xeni, Jardin (19 June 2010). "Wikileaks: a somewhat less redacted version of the Lamo/Manning logs". Boing Boing. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
  23. ^ Greenwald, Glenn (18 June 2010). "The strange and consequential case of Bradley Manning, Adrian Lamo and WikiLeaks". Salon.com. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
  24. ^ Poulsen, Kevin; Zetter, Kim (10 June 2010). "Suspected Wikileaks Source Described Crisis of Conscience Leading to Leaks". Wired. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  25. ^ "US Army Bradley Manning Detailed Charge Sheet" (PDF). United States Department of Defense (file hosted by Cryptome). 5 July 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  26. ^ Fildes, Jonathan (8 June 2010). "Wikileaks site unfazed by arrest of US army 'source'". BBC News. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  27. ^ Traynor, Ian (21 June 2010). "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange breaks cover but will avoid America". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
  28. ^ Dishneau, David (31 August 2010). "WikiLeaks defendant chooses civilian lawyer". Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  29. ^ Starr, Barbara; Ure, Laurie; Frieden, Terry (31 July 2010). "Military airstrike video leak suspect in solitary confinement". CNN. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
  30. ^ Bumiller, Elisabeth; Hulse, Carl (27 July 2010). "House Approves Money for Wars, but Rift Deepens". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 August 2010. On a day of continuing political and military fallout over the leaked reports, Pentagon officials said that Pfc. Bradley Manning, 22, an Army intelligence analyst arrested last month on charges of leaking a video of an American helicopter attack in Iraq and charged this month with downloading more than 150,000 classified diplomatic cables, was a "person of interest" in an Army criminal investigation to find who provided the battlefield reports to the group WikiLeaks.

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