Questions about lax computer security and the judgment of his superior officers dominated the third day of a pretrial military hearing for Pfc. Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence analyst charged with turning over government secrets to WikiLeaks.
In addition, two of the Army’s witnesses — among Manning’s superiors — declined to testify Sunday on the grounds that their testimony might incriminate them.
Manning, 24, faces 22 charges, including “aiding the enemy” for allegedly turning over information to the anti-secrecy Web site WikiLeaks.
The hearing, in a military courtroom at Fort Meade, will determine whether the government has sufficient evidence to proceed to a court-martial. Manning could face life in prison or the death penalty.
On Sunday, witnesses spoke of the loose computer security features of Forward Operating Base Hammer in Iraq, and Manning’s defense attorney argued that his client’s early displays of troubling behavior should have led to his security clearance being revoked long before WikiLeaks received any material.
Manning was reportedly alternately violent and withdrawn, and in at least one instance he told a superior that he struggled with gender identity. Manning is said to have sent a photograph of himself dressed as a woman to the superior.
One intelligence officer testified Sunday about unauthorized programs being stored on the computer system’s shared drive along with music, movies and games. Another witness said there was nothing to stop soldiers from burning information from the classified network onto a compact disc other than “trust that the soldier would do what is right.”
Capt. Thomas Cherepko, the officer who managed information systems, outlined violations on the classified network. Cherepko said he reported the problems to his supervisors but analysts were never disciplined.
Army prosecutors continued their argument that Manning was well-trained in handling classified information.
Manning told Allen Millman, a field software engineer contractor at FOB Hammer, “If people really knew what I could do with a computer they would be amazed,” Millman said.
Capt. Casey Fulton detailed Manning’s work as a junior analyst at Forward Operating Base Hammer, saying she relied heavily on his talents and routinely had him search classified databases.
She also was questioned about the video of an Apache helicopter firing on civilians that WikiLeaks posted in April 2010.
“I asked analysts if they had seen the video. It didn’t make the military look very good. I engaged them in what they thought of it. Manning asked me if the leaked video was the same video as the one on our shared drive. I said, ‘no way,’ ” Fulton testified.
Manning later sent Fulton a link to the video on the shared network drive as well as the link to the WikiLeaks video to show they were the same.
Manning is alleged to have sent the video to WikiLeaks.
Sgt. Chad Madaras, who worked with Manning at FOB Hammer, described him as moody and unreliable. Madaras recalled incidents when Manning would slam his fists or books down on his desk and said Manning sometimes would be completely unresponsive, staring blankly at his work station.
The Post Most: WorldMost-viewed stories, videos and galleries int he past two hours
Our Correspondents on Twitter
Loading...
Comments