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Chelsea Manning

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PFC Bradley E. Manning
Born (1987-12-17) 17 December 1987 (age 37)
Crescent, Oklahoma
NationalityAmerican
OccupationSoldier in the United States Army
Known for"Collateral Murder" video leaked

Template:Wikinews2 Private First Class Bradley E. Manning (born December 17, 1987) is a United States Army soldier who was arrested and charged with the unauthorized use and disclosure of U.S. classified information. He has been held in solitary confinement at the Marine Corps Brig, Quantico since July 29, 2010.

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 a helicopter airstrike on July 12, 2007, in Baghdad. Additionally, a video of the Granai airstrike and around 260,000 diplomatic cables were released to Wikileaks.[4][5][6]

Manning was charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) with violations of UCMJ Articles 92 and 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][8]

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. When he was thirteen, following his parents' divorce, he moved with his mother to Haverfordwest, Wales.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).[9] He had trouble fitting in at school in what former acquaintances have described as a troubled childhood.[10] According to some childhood friends, he first expressed interest in joining the U.S. military while he was in elementary school.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).

Manning dropped out of school at 16, returned to the United States, and worked at a pizza parlor.[citation needed] He enlisted in the Army at 18, becoming an intelligence analyst deployed in support of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division at Contingency Operating Station Hammer in Iraq.[11]

Manning felt isolated in the army, reportedly based on the difficulties of being homosexual under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.[10] Before being arrested, Manning had been twice reprimanded, once for assaulting a fellow soldier, and was demoted from Specialist to Private First Class.[5][12]

Acquisition and leak of classified material

While stationed in Iraq, Manning had access to SIPRNET from his workstation, from where it is alleged the leaked documents originated.[13]

According to chat logs, Manning brought in CD-RWs containing music, which were subsequently erased and rewritten with the leaked documents.[11] In online discussions with Adrian Lamo, Manning claimed responsibility for leaking the "Collateral Murder" video, a video of the Granai airstrike and approximately 250,000 individual cables, to the whistleblower website Wikileaks.[5][6]

Manning expressed disillusionment with American foreign policy, opining that the diplomatic documents expose "almost criminal political back dealings" [12] and expressed a wish that the release of the videos would cause large-scale scandals and lead to "worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms."[4][14]

Manning has been considered a "person of interest" in the Army's criminal investigation into the leak of over 90,000 documents to Wikileaks pertaining to the War in Afghanistan as well.[15]

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 Router 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 with forwarding the video and at least one of the cables to an unauthorized person.[16] The maximum jail sentence is 52 years.[1]

Manning faces a pretrial hearing[17] under Article 32 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, following which his lawyer expects a court-martial in the spring of 2011.[9][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.[6][18][19][1] As of December 8, 2010, Wikileaks had not yet followed through on a pledge to contribute to Manning's legal defense.[20]

Manning has selected former military attorney David Coombs to lead his defense team.[21] Manning has been held at the Marine Corps Brig, Quantico[22][9] in solitary confinement since sometime in May 2010.[23][24] It has been reported by friends and supporters that he is not permitted to exercise and that his mental and physical health are deteriorating because of the conditions of his imprisonment; also, that the suicide watch on him has been lifted.[25].

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 "US soldier charged over Apache Wikileaks video". ABC News. Agence France-Presse. 7 July 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  3. ^ a b 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 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 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 "US intelligence analyst arrested over security leaks". BBC News. 7 June 2010. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  7. ^ a b Dishneau, David. "Alleged Army whistleblower felt angry and alone". ABC news. Associated Press. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  8. ^ Manning Charge Sheet, 5 July 2010
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ a b Thompson, Ginger (8 August 2010). "Early Struggles of Soldier Charged in Leak Case". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ a b 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)
  13. ^ 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 workstation, which gave him access to SIPRNET
  14. ^ Xeni, Jardin (19 June 2010). "Wikileaks: a somewhat less redacted version of the Lamo/Manning logs". Boing Boing. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
  15. ^ Bumiller, Elisabeth; Hulse, Carl (27 July 2010). "House Approves Money for Wars, but Rift Deepens". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  16. ^ "US Army Bradley Manning Detailed Charge Sheet" (PDF). United States Department of Defense (file hosted by Cryptome). 5 July 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  17. ^ United States Division Center media release "Soldier faces criminal charges" July 6, 2010
  18. ^ Fildes, Jonathan (8 June 2010). "Wikileaks site unfazed by arrest of US army 'source'". BBC News. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  19. ^ Traynor, Ian (21 June 2010). "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange breaks cover but will avoid America". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
  20. ^ Nakashima, Ellen (8 December 2010). "WikiLeaks hasn't met pledge for soldier's legal aid, group says". Washington Post. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  21. ^ Dishneau, David (31 August 2010). "WikiLeaks defendant chooses civilian lawyer". Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  22. ^ Starr, Barbara; Ure, Laurie; Frieden, Terry (31 July 2010). "Military airstrike video leak suspect in solitary confinement". CNN. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
  23. ^ Greenwald, Glenn (15 December 2010). "The inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning's detention". Salon.com. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  24. ^ Fantz, Ashley. "Soldier suspected of Wiki leak: 'I've been isolated'." CNN. August 5, 2010. Retrieved on October 22, 2010.
  25. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/16/bradley-manning-health-deteriorating

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