Category Archives: Chelsea Manning

Pentagon OKs Chelsea Manning Transfer for Gender Treatment

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WASHINGTON - In an unprecedented move, the Pentagon is trying to transfer convicted national security leaker Pvt. Chelsea Manning to a civilian prison so she can get treatment for her gender disorder, defense officials said.

Manning, formerly named Bradley, was convicted of sending classified documents to anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. The soldier has asked for hormone therapy and to be able to live as a woman.

The request was the first ever made by a transgender military inmate and set up a dilemma for the Defense Department: How to treat a soldier for a diagnosed disorder without violating long-standing military policy. Transgenders are not allowed to serve in the U.S. military and the Defense Department does not provide such treatment, but Manning can't be discharged from the service while serving his 35-year prison sentence.

Some officials have said privately that keeping the soldier in a military prison and unable to have treatment could amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

This undated photo courtesy of the U.S. Army shows a photo of Bradley Manning in wig and make-up.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last month gave the Army approval to try to work out a transfer plan with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which does provide such treatment, two Pentagon officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.

"No decision to transfer Pvt. Manning to a civilian detention facility has been made, and any such decision will, of course, properly balance the soldier's medical needs with our obligation to ensure she remains behind bars," Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said.

The two agencies are just starting discussions about prospects for a transfer, the two officials said.

The Army has a memorandum of agreement with the Bureau of Prisons for use of several hundred beds and has sent an average of 15 to 20 prisoners a year to civilian prisons. But circumstances are different in Manning's case. The Army normally transfers some prisoners to federal prisons after all military appeals have been exhausted and discharge from military service has been executed. Cases of national security interest are not normally approved for transfer from military custody to the federal prison system.

The former intelligence analyst was sentenced in August for six Espionage Act violations and 14 other offenses for giving WikiLeaks more than 700,000 secret military and U.S. State Department documents, along with battlefield video, while working in Iraq in 2009 and 2010. An Army general later upheld the convictions, clearing the way for an appeal at the Army Court of Criminal Appeals.

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Pentagon OKs Chelsea Manning Transfer for Gender Treatment

Pentagon reportedly trying to transfer Manning to civilian prison for gender treatment

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In this undated photo provided by the U.S. Army, Pfc. Chelsea Manning poses for a photo wearing a wig and lipstick. Manningemailed his militarytherapist the photo with a letter titled, "My problem," in which he described his issues with gender identity and his hope that a military career would "get rid of it." (AP/U.S. Army)

WASHINGTON In an unprecedented move, the Pentagon is trying to transfer convicted national security leaker Pvt. Chelsea Manning to a civilian prison so he can get treatment for his gender disorder, defense officials said.

Manning, formerly named Bradley, was convicted of sending classified documents to anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. The soldier has asked for hormone therapy and to be able to live as a woman.

The request was the first ever made by a transgender military inmate and set up a dilemma for the Defense Department: How to treat a soldier for a diagnosed disorder without violating long-standing military policy. Transgenders are not allowed to serve in the U.S. military and the Defense Department does not provide such treatment, but Manning can't be discharged from the service while serving his 35-year prison sentence.

Some officials have said privately that keeping the soldier in a military prison and unable to have treatment could amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last month gave the Army approval to try to work out a transfer plan with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which does provide such treatment, two Pentagon officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.

"No decision to transfer Pvt. Manning to a civilian detention facility has been made, and any such decision will, of course, properly balance the soldier's medical needs with our obligation to ensure she remains behind bars," Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said.

The two agencies are just starting discussions about prospects for a transfer, the two officials said.

The Army has a memorandum of agreement with the Bureau of Prisons for use of several hundred beds and has sent an average of 15 to 20 prisoners a year to civilian prisons. But circumstances are different in Manning's case. The Army normally transfers some prisoners to federal prisons after all military appeals have been exhausted and discharge from military service has been executed. Cases of national security interest are not normally approved for transfer from military custody to the federal prison system.

The former intelligence analyst was sentenced in August for six Espionage Act violations and 14 other offenses for giving WikiLeaks more than 700,000 secret military and U.S. State Department documents, along with battlefield video, while working in Iraq in 2009 and 2010. An Army general later upheld the convictions, clearing the way for an appeal at the Army Court of Criminal Appeals.

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Pentagon reportedly trying to transfer Manning to civilian prison for gender treatment

German hacker club offers Snowden, Manning honorary membership

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BERLIN A German hacking group says it is offering honorary membership to NSA leaker Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, a U.S. soldier convicted of providing classified documents to WikiLeaks.

The Chaos Computer Club says its members voted overwhelmingly in favor of the move late Sunday.

Spokeswoman Constanze Kurz said Monday that members of the group, which describes itself as "Europe's largest association of hackers," also pledged to financially support Snowden's efforts to avoid extradition to the United States.

Snowden, who is currently in Russia, has been charged with espionage and other offenses in the U.S. and could get 30 years in prison if convicted.

Manning is serving a 35-year prison sentence for giving anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks more than 700,000 secret military and U.S. State Department documents.

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Chaos Computer Club: http://www.ccc.de/en/

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German hacker club offers Snowden, Manning honorary membership

Exclusive Interview: NSA whistleblower on what he’d do differently now

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WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- The high-profile cases of Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning have turned a microscope onto the U.S. intelligence community, launching a serious discussion on the balance of civil liberties in a post-9/11 world.

Secondary to Snowden and Manning's revelations, but perhaps no less important, was the treatment of the whistleblowers themselves: Snowden lives exiled, and without a passport, in Russia, while Manning faces 35 years in federal prison. Both saw grievous abuses within the U.S. government that they felt must be revealed, and both paid for their consciences with their freedom.

Thomas Drake, a former NSA executive, was more fortunate. Drake witnessed what he said were privacy and Fourth Amendment violations, as well as a massive waste of funding on the Trailblazer project, which collected intelligence data off the Internet. He initially took his concerns to internal authorities, including the NSA Inspector General and the Defense Department Inspector General, then to the staff of the House Intelligence and Oversight Committees. He also passed his concerns on to a reporter at the Baltimore Sun, carefully avoiding divulging classified information.

In 2007, Drake's home was raided by the FBI, in 2010, he was indicted by a grand jury and charged with illegally holding sensitive information, obstruction of justice and making a false statement. All along, he refused to plead guilty or help the government prosecute fellow whistleblowers.

The 10 charges filed against him under the Espionage Act were ultimately dropped, in exchange for a guilty plea on a misdemeanor count of misusing the NSA's computer system.

Drake has since worked as a privacy activist, speaking out against the surveillance state. In an interview with UPI this week, he talked about what it takes to blow the whistle on the U.S. government and just how difficult it is to do.

(This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)

UPI: What would you have done differently?

Drake: I would not have spoken with the FBI at all. I was speaking to them to report high crimes and misdemeanors; I was expecting them to come to my house for quite some time. I would have hired an attorney sooner.

Even though I made a conscious choice [to go through the proper channels], I didn't have to. Under the NSA portion [of the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act], I could go directly to the Department of Defense or directly to Congress and not inform the NSA. That was the statute that you would exercise if you had a responsible belief as a whistleblower. Now there's huge cutout: Any national security position is not covered by that act.

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Exclusive Interview: NSA whistleblower on what he'd do differently now

Chelsea Manning Allowed to Formally Change Name – NBC News

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The Army private convicted of funneling intelligence secrets to whistleblowing website WikiLeaks can legally change her name to Chelsea Elizabeth Manning, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Mannings private struggle to identify as a woman became public after she was sentenced to 35 years in prison last August for leaking more than 700,000 government files. Manning didnt attend the minute-long name-change hearing Wednesday, but said in a statement that it is an exciting day.

Leavenworth County District Judge David King wrote that Manning is entitled to the name change, and ordered that Mannings birth certificate be amended to reflect the new name, according to the petition obtained by NBC News. The soldier's given name was Bradley Edward Manning.

Hopefully todays name change, while so meaningful to me personally, can also raise awareness of the fact that we [transgender] people exist everywhere in America today, and that we ... must jump through hurdles every day just for being who we are, Manning wrote.

Manning, 26, is currently serving time at the Army prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

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While Mannings military records must also reflect the new name, Army officials arent forced to treat Manning as a woman, which means she wouldnt have to be transferred to a womens unit at another prison.

Mannings confinement status wouldnt necessarily change, Army spokesman George Wright told The Associated Press.

Likewise, the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks is a male-only facility and prisoners there are referred to by the title inmate, Wright said in a statement.

Manning wrote that while she struggled with her gender identity, she felt compelled to legally change her name through the courts. But she said she still needs the militarys help to get proper healthcare access.

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Chelsea Manning Allowed to Formally Change Name - NBC News