Witness: No harm to US from leaked Gitmo files

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Posted: Tuesday, July 9, 2013 11:17 am
Associated Press

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — ... Retired Air Force Col. Morris Davis described the briefs as summaries of investigative and intelligence reports meant to be seen by senior military and executive branch officials. They included information about the detainees' known or suspected terrorist ties but the briefs were often inaccurate, he said.

Davis said four of the men named in the briefs had been released from Guantanamo at least four years before Manning leaked them. The fifth is on a list to be transferred out, Davis said ...

Another defense witness, Army security specialist Charles Ganiel, testified he reviewed 125 leaked State Department cables and found that "a lot of the information was already out in the public domain" before WikiLeaks published it.

But he agreed with prosecutor Capt. Angel Overgaard that military employees should always protect classified information ...

http://thegardenisland.com/news/national/witness-no-harm-to-us-from-leaked-gitmo-files/article_c6f6d22e-ca4c-57ca-8928-b044b9231bff.html

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1. Defense Lawyers Portray Bradley Manning as Socially Naive and Weak

July 9, 2013
Posted by Nick Chiles

... His defense team, which is expected to call as many as 46 witnesses, began its case by showing the entire 39-minute video of a 2007 Apache helicopter gunship attack in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters reporters ...

The defense’s first witness, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Joshua Ehresman, described Manning as his “go-to guy” in Iraq, saying his work product was “the best” and that he “would come up with exactly what you were looking for” when given a task.

While he continued that Manning excelled in “data mining,” Ehresman acknowledged that his ability to analyze the information was poor. He said Manning was weak in his assessments and frequently jumped to conclusions before checking all his sources or working with his fellow soldiers. He added that Manning was weak in the “social” aspect of his intelligence work, though his computer literacy was “very high” ...

http://atlantablackstar.com/2013/07/09/defense-lawyers-portray-bradley-manning-as-naive-and-weak-in-social-aspects/

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2. Push to drop 'aiding enemy' charge

July 10, 2013
Paul McGeough

... David Coombs argued the Obama administration's military prosecutors had not made a case that Manning, while serving as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, had ''aided the enemy'' by leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks.

He also claimed there was no case for Manning to answer on a charge he breached the 1917 Espionage Act by ''wantonly'' creating the circumstance in which documents that could be ''used to the injury of the US or to the advantage of any foreign nation were published''.

Judge Colonel Denise Lind deferred a ruling on Mr Coombs' application the charges be thrown out, saying she wanted a government response by Thursday ...

Proceeding with the defence, Mr Coombs called a series of witnesses, whose evidence addressed four main issues: Manning's exceptional computer skills; his social conscience; lax discipline and security in the area in which he worked; and that some of the leaked documents were not all they were cracked up to be to the extent that they might have ''aided the enemy'' ...

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/push-to-drop-aiding-enemy-charge-20130709-2pobc.html

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3. Defense Paints Bradley Manning as Misguided

Friends testified that the former soldier showed concern for lives of families in foreign countries
By PAUL D. SHINKMAN
July 9, 2013

... Manning's defense opened their case with video footage of a 2007 Apache helicopter strike in Iraq that killed two Reuters reporters as well as Iraqi civilians ... Reuters had filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the footage, which was reportedly found in Manning's quarters in Iraq ...

Laura McNamara, a friend of Manning's, testified about the concern Manning seemed to show for the lives of families in foreign countries. Through a series of online chat logs from 2009 – before the reported leak – Manning discussed with her the value of human life above all other priorities, and how he saw the military as an "overall positive force" but a largely "male-dominated, Christian right organization," according to the Times.

Manning told her that "activism is fun," McNamara said in cross examination, and that the military made a mistake ...

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/07/09/defense-paints-bradley-manning-as-misguided

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4. Manning was troubled over plight of Iraqis: witness

AFP-JIJI
JUL 9, 2013

... The army private was dismayed over an incident in which 15 Iraqi civilians had been jailed — with U.S. backing — for handing out pamphlets criticizing the government, said Sgt. David Sadtler, who helped oversee Manning’s work as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad. Manning “was concerned that this was happening,” said Sadtler, who was called as a witness for the defense. “He was upset at the situation” ...

Sadtler said Manning was up on global events and that other troops in his unit would come to him “if they needed to know what was going on in the world.”

Manning has admitted to giving WikiLeaks more than 700,000 secret military intelligence files and diplomatic cables. He has pleaded guilty to lesser offenses that could carry a 20-year prison sentence ...

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/09/world/manning-was-troubled-over-plight-of-iraqis-witness/#.Udyllz54b88

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5. U.S. soldier in WikiLeaks case had free access to secret files

TUESDAY, 09 JULY 2013 10:26

FORT MEADE, Md., July 8 (Reuters) - The soldier accused of the largest release of classified material in U.S. history had wide-open access to secret files that could easily be downloaded, witnesses told a court-martial on Monday at the start of defense testimony.

Private First Class Bradley Manning, accused of releasing more than 700,000 classified files to WikiLeaks, had nothing to stop him from installing software for the high-speed download of secret State Department cables, the witnesses said.

Defense attorney David Coombs sought to portray a military atmosphere that allowed intelligence analysts like Manning to listen to music or watch movies stored on a classified hard drive or personal computer while on duty.

Captain David Lim, one of Manning's supervisors, said he had encouraged analysts to delve into State Department cables and other classified materials to avoid “tunnel vision.” “We need to incorporate this into our products and incorporate it into what we give our commanders,” Lim testified that he had told Manning and other analysts.
Lim and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Joshua Ehresman said there was no oversight at Manning's Iraq outpost on installing executable files on the Army computers that had access to classified materials ...

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/world-news/35111-us-soldier-in-wikileaks-case-had-free-access-to-secret-files.html