Question: From the readings, what is your opinion of Chelsea/Bradley Manning’s decision to leak sensitive information to WikiLeaks and her subsequent sentencing? Is what she did ethical or did she violate her duty? Should she have been protected under the Whistleblower protection laws? Is she a revolutionary hero or a traitor?
I think what Chelsea Manning’s leak of classified information was unethical and wrong. For one, I think any actions taken which compromise the safety of soldiers overseas, or national security in general, are disgusting and should be met with extreme punishment. Since soldiers who take on a security clearance do so with the trust that they will defend the secrets of our nation, this leak was a clear violation of her duties. Also, while some may argue that there were not any direct deaths as a result of her leaks, that does not change the fact that deaths were a possibility that she was aware of when she leaked the documents. There is no way of knowing at the time what kind of effect the leaks would have, and even though Manning only had intentions of increasing military accountability, it was clear that she did not take due precaution in assessing the volatility of the information she was releasing. The fact that Lamo, someone who had leaked documents in the past, recognized the recklessness of these leaks and described it as vacuuming up as much classified information as possible and throwing it in the air, should be a good indicator of how careless this leaking was. Additionally, I have faith in the court system to be impartial in matters like this and to make an honest determination of whether or not the leaks endangered American lives. Since the courts ruled that Manning did in fact put soldiers’ lives at risk, I believe that this is true and she should be viewed as a traitor to the country. Further, Manning’s actions after the leak made her decisions seem much less honorable to me. The way she seemed to brag about the leak to Lamo, talking about lip-syncing music while committing one of the the largest data breach in military history, shows again that she was not fully thinking through the repercussions of her actions. Also the fact that she reached out to Lamo for no other reason than the tell him that she was the leaker suggests that she may have been interested in achieving some sort of personal recognition for her acts, which I find disgusting.
Since it seems there is overwhelming evidence of the leaks compromising national security, I do not think Manning should be protected by the whistleblowers act because the act does not protect whistleblowers under these circumstances, nor should it. I understand that Manning leaked the documents without the intention to harm national security in any way, but as the courts stated she had enough training to realize that her leaks likely would present a threat to national security. I also do not agree with Obama’s decision to commute Manning’s sentence. Like I said above, I believe that people who willingly take actions which compromise national security should be met with extreme punishment. Reducing Manning’s sentence by such a significant margin sends the wrong message that the United States sympathizes with these kinds of actions.