DAY 7: Thur. 12-22-11, 9:00 AM

Document created from compilation of notes of individuals who sat in the court room.

IO enters.

IO: Hearing called to order, etc.

DEFENSE’S CONCLUDING STATEMENT.

Coombs: Officer Almanza, you’re in a unique position here to give the US government a reality check.

Your recommendation will carry considerable weight with the government.

The government has overcharged [to strong-arm a plea from my client]

Look at charge case. [The US gov’t brought 22 charges against Manning.] Five specifications:

8 – USC 793
2 18 USC 1030 Alpha 1

Each carries a ten-year maximum. That means 150 years with max punishment.

But the government wasn’t satisfied. Also charged Manning with “aiding the enemy.” Which carries life penalty [think he probably said death penalty].

I recommend dismissing “aiding the enemy.”

I recommend dismissing the Article 92 offenses. They strong form enforcement of information insurance – we’ve seen that. This S2 was lawless. It did not enforce rules. It [is the unit’s lack of response to that which also] smacks in the face of justice.

I ask that you combine 18 USC into:

1 spec. [missed]
1 spec. 793
1 spec. 1030 Alpha 1

If you did that, the maximum sentence would be 30 years.

30 years ago, the US was assisting Saddam Hussein with Iran. Ronald Reagan was president. My client was not even born. In support of this [missed], you need to understand why it occurred.

Gender Identity Disorder.

Not a disorder; it’s a reality. One my client was struggling with.

In a letter to Adkins, Pfc. Manning wrote [I abbreviated writing in my notes]:

“This is my problem. There have been signs for a long time. Thought military would get rid of it. But not going away. Haunting me. Great pain. It’s destroyed family ties, it’s the cause of my pain and confusion. Life difficult. The only solution is getting rid of me. Fear of getting caught has made me cover up. Makes my entire life feel like a bad dream that won’t end. Don’t know what to do. Feels like I’m not here anymore. [Everyone’s concerned about me, and everyone’s afraid of me.] I’m sorry.”

- Pfc. Manning

From a journal found in Pfc. Manning’s lodgings: “I may have gender identity issues.”

Found on his computer: Google searches for “transgender,” etc.

Coombs mentions an article about transgendered members of the military.

“Transsexuals in the Military: Flight into Hyper-Masculinity” [by a Col.]

As a psychologist, [author has] studied patients in hyper-masculine environments.

Striking similarity: they joined the service to “become a real man.” Another quote: “In uniform, I was above reproach.”

During his deployment, Manning created Breanna Manning. If only life was so simple, and you could push a few buttons and solve your problems.

It was not.

Non-commissioned officers: they are the backbone of the military.

The one thing that makes the US Army different: we have non-commissioned officers who enforce and step in and correct, regardless of rank.

We’ve had a breakdown. From Major Clausen, S2, all the way down to the most junior.

Only person to be called was most responsible: Adkins.

Memorandum 1:
Pfc. Manning’s instability heightened in 2009. Psych care one to two times a week might have helped Manning.

Yet Adkins did nothing.

Memorandum 2:
Manning exhibits bizarre behavior.

Memorandum 3:
Manning was sitting upright, knees clutched. As though in pain. Noticed open Gerber knife. He’d etched on his seat “I want” with the blade. He felt that he was not there; was not a person. Said he was a turtle with a core personality and several layers of hard shell to protect his personality.

“He seemed able to recover.”

That night, Manning struck Showman.

It would be useful to hear from these individuals [Adkins, Clausen]. They’ve done nothing.

Regarding my client’s actions: If anything, it has helped.

Why would OCA say this could cause harm? Because it reinforces the government’s Chicken Little response: “The sky is falling!”

If they feel this, let them come into this courtroom. I would enjoy that cross-examination.

The sky is not falling. The sky has not fallen. The sky will not fall.

In your early twenties you believe you can change the world. Make a difference. That’s a good thing. You believe, “Yes, we can.”

The idea that my client needs to pay with his life is overreacting. This strips them of credibility.

Let’s give the government a reality check. Let’s tell them their ruling is over-reacting.

“An individual who breaks a law and they do so because the law is unjust, and they risk jail to arouse the public,” Coombs said, paraphrasing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” “they’re really expressing the very highest respect for the law.”

Sunlight has always been the best disinfectant. [quoting U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis]

PROSECUTION’S CONCLUDING STATEMENT

Pfc. Manning was trained and trusted to provide intel. He used his time to indiscriminately harvest over 700,000 documents.

He used Wikileaks’ Most wanted list as a guiding light.

[“(Manning) continued to harvest this information knowing it would be used by our enemies.”]

Your task is to inquire into truth and make a recommendation.

The evidence is overwhelming: over 300,000 pages of classified information.

Dates and times.

He communicated with Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

Uploaded files.
Bypassed security.
Multiple databases.
Wantonly published information.

Indirectly passed along to Wikileaks.

1.
Apache Video
OGA documents
CIDNE Iraq
SouthCom documents
[missed] documents
Garani
Net diplomacy
Individual cable 10 Reykjavik 13
Army agency documents
Global address book

Pfc. Manning was a trained all-source analyst
Trained –
To do all sorts of things
To help leaders make decisions
To protect threats against US

Manning had to have secret clearance.

Prosecution shows PDFs of NDAs.

Pfc. Manning signed this and six other docs.

He also took multiple classes on OPSEC (Operations Security) and INFOSEC (Information Security).

He learned: disclosure could damage national security.

He received a briefing that was recovered on his desktop.
Definition of OPSEC. Individual information. Official information. Methods, etc. of US Army.

Manning researched common OPSEC leaks. One of these was the Internet. He was taught: You have to be careful because many enemies have access.

After his deployment to FOB Hammer, he researched the Shia around the time of the Iraq elections.

Each of the charged offenses was done at a separate time and date.

All intel analysts and intel link on .22 and .40 SIPRnet computers.

They reveal that he searched for the following:

NUMBER ONE.

CIA retention of interrogation videos 28 Nov. ’09.

He then used Wikileaks’ most wanted list, without regard for security, to run searches.

HIS SEARCHES:
190 times: Wikileaks
4 times: Julian Assange
26 times: Iceland

NUMBER TWO.

Brash and arrogant admissions to Adrian Lamo matched, word for word, what was found on his computer.

NUMBER THREE.

CD mounting data. When a burn occurs, a yer/mo/day/min label is placed on that CD.

“100215_0621/11/wi/c3.txt”

“5391001408 Classified info…”

NUMBER FOUR.

Centaur cable.
Class [missed]
GTMO
CIDNE [missed] Florida.

Apache Video:

12 July 2007. Provided air strike information. Pfc. Manning transferred the video to a Macintosh computer.

“12Jul07 CZ ENGAGEMENT ZONE OC…”

Manning conversed with Assange.

5 April 2010 – Wikileaks released video [Apache air strike].

22 May 2010 – Manning admitted leaking to Eric Schmiedl in an email. Then he spoke to Adrian Lamo.

Migrations in Blah folder. With date and time. 22 March 2010 at 12:18.

e/Volumes/10032_1255/blah.zip

(Prosecution to IO): United Sates would like you to notate…

Bates #378084-378090

Starting with 410623, these documents were classified and located on SIPRnet. Thus Manning knew they were classified.

CIDNE was used for intel prep for battlefield. He knew information was classified.

Knew CIDNE database contained usernames, call times, etc.

Shaver examined/testified re: info found at Manning’s aunt’s house.

Those documents [missed].

_._readme.txt was created by Mac computers.

(Prosecution presents Manning-Lamo chat ending with “Have a good day.” Then a “smiling,” as he says, picture of Manning at his aunt’s house.)

(Prosecution mentions reports that were and still are classified.)

Specification 8 of charge 2.

Spec. 9: more than 3 of these were SouthCom documents.

JTF GTMO database. Only available on SIPRnet.

2009 – first search.

8 Dec. 2009 – accessed.

10 Mar 2010 – attempted to download.

Downloaded over 700 documents.
“144708” is the document number on WGET.
[missed] 74b39ef6.zip

Manning chatted with Julian Assange.

They discussed document upload.
[not sure where this should fit in the transcript, but it pertains to chats allegedly held between Manning and Assange]:
“Anyway, I’m throwing everything I’ve got on JTF Gitmo at you now. Should take a while to get up though,” said the user “Nobody,” presumed to be Manning.
“OK, great,” said “Nathaniel Frank,” alleged to be Julian Assange.”
“Upload is at about 36 PCT.”
“ETA?” asked Assange.
“Eleven to twelve hours I’m guessing since it’s been going six already.”

The government also presented chats in which Assange appears to offer assistance to Manning in cracking a logon password to allow him to search anonymously on a computer.

“Any good at LM hash cracking?” asked Manning.
“Yes,” said Assange. “We have rainbow tables for LM.”

[Chat logs appeared only briefly on a screen and remain, like other evidence and filings in the military proceeding, unreleased to the public. Logs as they appear in this and other articles are the result of collaborative note taking by journalists in the courtroom and those watching proceedings via live feed.]

In another chat, dated March 8, 2010, Manning asked “Nathaniel Frank,” believed to be Assange, about help in cracking the main password on his classified SIPRnet computer so that he could log on to it anonymously. He asked “Frank” if he had experience cracking IM NT hashes (presumably it’s a mistype and he meant NTLM for the Microsoft NT LAN Manager). “Frank” replied yes, that they had “rainbow tables” for doing that. Manning then sent him what looked like a hash.

The WikiLeaks twitter feed noted the new allegation on Thursday, without confirming or denying the password-cracking charge.
Person alleged to be Julian Assange confirms receipt.

24 April 2011 – Wikileaks posts the documents.

Farah documents. Transmission of [missed number] Farah documents.

Elements of the Garani airstrike video.

Documents downloaded and put into the “farah.zip” folder.

Seven Farah files found on Manning’s computer.

Admitted to Adrian Lamo.

Garani video.

Centcom folder encrypted, could only be opened by password.

Less than 2 weeks after working at SCIF, Manning leaked video to Wikileaks without viewing it.

Garani Airstrike Video: Bates #378028

Reports classified.

Manning noticed they were classified.

Spec. [Specification] 3 – adding unauthorized software.

2__,187 cables [missed 2 digits; think it’s over 250,000].

Cost over $2 million to contain.

Searched Google for WGET.

Downloaded cables.

Deleted CSV file with over 100,000 cables.

His dot-22 SIPRnet comp: “Backup.slxs”

Contained 3 spreadsheets:
“WGET”
“03100410”
“0510”

ID Date/Time
251288 2010-03-01 0:25
251289 2010-03-01 0:27

28 March to 9 April 2010: Constant activity.

Methodical process of numbered files. Moved all 200,000 cables onto his personal computer.

Documents were and are classified.

“10 Reykjavik-13.” Gave to Wikileaks.

Rather than researching Shia threat, Manning researched Iceland.

He admitted to Assange that 10Reykjavik13 was a test.

Why Iceland? Because it was the base for Julian Assange.

Bates #376903 – classified document.

1 Dec. 2009 – searched IntelLINK for Wikileaks for the first time.
29 Dec. ’09 – accessed again.
1 Mar. ’10 – searched for Wikileaks.
15 Feb. – transferred report to Wikileaks.
15 Mar. – Wikileaks released.

By searching for Wikileaks, Manning found info on how transmitting classified information to Wikileaks could do harm.

Known terrorist entities like Al Qaeda use Wikileaks for their own information.

US Forces Iraq gal (sp?) – the names, ranks, etc. for 1000s of service members and civilians.

Wikileaks tweeted: “We would like a list of as many .mil email addresses as possible. Please contact [email protected] to submit.

TASK: Acquire and exfiltrate Global Address List from US forces – Iraq Microsoft Outlook/ [my note drops off there]
[Note made in reference to above]: He’s charged with attempting to release thousands of pages of addresses.

The string Manning gave to Assange in a chat:

“14:80211049faebf44ld524fb24…”

A soldier’s CHU (Containerized Housing Unit) is not authorized for storage of classified information.

Another charge: that Manning passed information to Wikileaks knowing that the enemy would receive it.

He knew because of an army report showing that the enemy used Wikileaks.

Enemies of the US (Al Qaeda, etc.) do contain classified material.

Prosecution screens a video created by As-Sahab, [As-Sahab Foundation for Islamic Media Publication; Arabic = “the cloud”] the video production entity for al-Qaeda.

Video features “Adam Gadahn, aka Azzam al-Amriki, an American-born al Qaeda spokesperson, discussing the Collateral Murder video and the State Department cables Manning stands accused of leaking.”

6 June 2011 [think this is the video’s date]

Al Qaeda is compiling a log of Wikileaks logs.

[We have this on a computer.]

Pfc. Manning’s actions bring discredit to the armed forces.

“He used that training to defy our trust, to indiscriminately and systematically harm the United States” during a time of war and while deployed. This affects the national security of the US. The charges and specifications are properly grounded and appropriate.

It is appropriate for you to recommend that this be court martial.

IO: My recommendation is advisory only.

This hearing is closed.