bradley manning

Manning confesses: I leaked to WikiLeaks to 'spark a debate'

For the first time today, U.S. Army soldier Bradley Manning explained publicly why he handed hundreds of thousands of classified files to WikiLeaks, telling a crowded military courtroom in Ft. Meade, Md., that he had hoped to "spark a debate on the military and our foreign policy."

Manning said that his decision to leak the files stemmed from increasing concern about the U.S. military's actions in the Middle East, and that his conscience led him to conclude the documents must be made public. After approaching The New York Times and The Washington Post, but finding … Read more

Bradley Manning enters guilty pleas -- on some counts

Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army soldier accused of providing WikiLeaks with hundreds of thousands of classified documents, has pleaded guilty to some of the lesser charges against him and has begun reading a statement explaining his actions in military court today.

The 25-year-old soldier entered guilty pleas to 10 of 22 charges that he is facing, acknowledging that he was the source of the files that WikiLeaks divulged, according to the Los Angeles Times and other press accounts. The lesser charges carry a maximum upper limit of 20 years in prison.

But Manning has pleaded not guilty to the … Read more

Whatever happened to Bradley Manning? Soon we'll know

O ut of sight, out of mind -- that's the way it might seem when considering the plight of Bradley Manning, who has been held for more than 1,000 days without a trial. But the jailed Army private is getting close to having his day in court. On Tuesday, a military judge refused to dismiss charges against Manning, a former intelligence analyst, who could face a maximum life sentence in connection with charges that he aided the enemy.

Suspected of being the source for WikiLeaks' massive document release of military and State Department files, Manning is being held … Read more

Military judge sets terms for possible Manning plea

Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army private accused of sharing documents with WikiLeaks that were eventually released on the Internet, is now one step closer to handling some of the claims brought against him.

Military judge Col. Denise Lind today accepted the language used to describe seven charges to which Manning could plead guilty. The charges include Manning willfully sending videos, war logs, and other classified materials to WikiLeaks.

The Associated Press was first to report on the ruling.

To be clear, Col. Lind's ruling does not imply that Manning willl offer a guilty plea. Instead, the ruling approves … Read more

Bradley Manning offers partial guilty plea to military court

Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army soldier accused of providing WikiLeaks with hundreds of thousands of classified documents, has offered to plead guilty. Sort of.

During a pre-trial hearing in military court today, Manning's attorney, David Coombs, proposed a partial guilty plea covering a subset of the slew of criminal charges that the U.S. Army has lodged against him.

"Manning is attempting to accept responsibility for offenses that are encapsulated within, or are a subset of, the charged offenses," Coombs wrote on his blog this evening. "The court will consider whether this is a permissible … Read more

CNET Tech Voters' Guide 2012: Romney vs. Obama on the issues

Technology topics can mark a rare bipartisan area of political agreement: Both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama say they would make cybersecurity a priority, and both like to talk up government funding of basic research.

If you look a bit more closely, however, differences emerge. They're perhaps most marked over federal regulation, where the two major parties have long-standing disagreements, but also exist on topics like WikiLeaks, copyright legislation, and whether to levy a new tax on broadband providers.

Keep reading for CNET's 2012 Tech Voters' Guide, in which we highlight where the four candidates -- we've … Read more

Military court to review tight secrecy in Bradley Manning case

A military appeals court will be asked tomorrow to decloak the prosecution of Bradley Manning, an Army private accused of handing thousands of classified documents to Wikileaks.

Prosecutors have insisted on intense secrecy in the case. No transcripts of the legal proceedings have been published. No court orders have been disclosed. To date, even the government's written legal arguments remain off-limits to the public.

So far, at least, military courts have been perfectly happy to accede to those requests in Manning's court martial. A trial judge, Denise Lind, rejected requests for access to the records, as did the … Read more

Bradley Manning supporter targeted by feds wins early victory

A founder of the Bradley Manning Support Network, who says federal agents seized his laptop because of his support for the alleged Wiki-leaker, will have his day in court.

U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston yesterday ruled that a lawsuit challenging activist David House's border searches and other interviews by government agents may continue.

In an opinion (PDF) rejecting the U.S. government's request to dismiss the case, Casper wrote that just because "the initial search and seizure occurred at the border does not strip House of his First Amendment rights," especially because it … Read more

Diplomatic cables on Manning's computer, investigator says

U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was dealt a significant blow yesterday after a government investigator at a hearing revealed that a computer Manning used had diplomatic cables and other sensitive information on it.

According to the Associated Press, which first reported on testimony that digital-crimes investigator David Shaver gave in Manning's case, one of Manning's work computers had over 10,000 diplomatic cables, as well as video of a widely publicized 2007 helicopter attack in Iraq. Shaver's testimony follows U.S. government claims that Manning was accessing classified information and giving it to WikiLeaks founder Julian … Read more