Trial of soldier accused of giving info to WikiLeaks heats up

An intelligence officer who worked with the army intelligence analyst accused of giving US secrets to the WikiLeaks website said yesterday that the soldier was considered to have an especially high understanding of enemy threats in Iraq and had to be trusted to keep the material he saw private.

The description of Bradley Manning from one of his officers came at the beginning of the third day of a military hearing to determine whether he should be court martialled.

He is accused of giving WikiLeaks a trove of government material while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq in 2009 and 2010, including Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, State Department cables and a military video of a 2007 American helicopter attack in Iraq that killed 11 men.

Captain Casey Fulton testified for the prosecution that Manning had a 'top secret' security clearance, enabling him to view a wide range of classified material. None of the material posted on WikiLeaks was classified higher than 'secret'.

Fulton said Manning was regarded as having a better understanding of enemy threats in Iraq than other analysts.

She said analysts such as Manning, known as all-source analysts, were trained to synthesise intelligence from a wide array of intelligence sources.

No full-time supervision

Fulton said analysts are trained not to disclose classified information and are not allowed to burn classified information on to CDs for personal use. But she said it was impossible to supervise them 100 per cent of the time.

"You have to trust that they'll safeguard the material the way that they've been taught," she said.

Fulton also said that sometime before April 2010 when WikiLeaks released a video featuring an Apache helicopter attack, she saw a similar clip on a workstation computer in Baghdad.

She said Manning later showed her that the WikiLeaks clip and the one Fulton had seen were the same. Manning is suspected of leaking the video.

The hearing began Friday at Fort Meade outside Washington and could run several more days.

The army says it may take several more weeks for the commander of the Military District of Washington to decide whether Manning will be court martialled.

Major General Michael Linnington may choose other courses, including administrative punishment or dismissal of the 22 counts against him, including aiding the enemy. He also could add more charges based on evidence produced at the hearing.

Manning, who turned 24 on Saturday, could face life in prison if convicted.

The Obama administration says the released information has threatened valuable military and diplomatic sources and strained America's relations with other governments. Manning's lawyers counter that much of the information that was classified by the Pentagon posed no risk.

Among the first issues to arise during weekend testimony was whether Manning's sexual orientation is relevant to the case against him.

His attorneys maintained that his status as a homosexual in the military before the repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell' contributed to mental and emotional problems that should have barred him from having access to sensitive material.