Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Army Intelligence Analyst Charged With Leaking Classified Information

Via Wired.com -

A U.S. Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking videos and documents to Wikileaks was charged Monday with eight violations of federal criminal law, including unauthorized computer access, and a single count of transmitting classified information to an unauthorized third party in violation of the Espionage Act.

Pfc. Bradley Manning, 22, with charged under the Universal Code of Military Justice with two violations encompassing the eight alleged criminal offenses, and two non-criminal violations of Army regulations governing the handling of classified information and computers.

According to the charge sheet, Manning downloaded a classified video of a military operation in Iraq and transmitted it to a third-party, in violation of the Espionage Act, 18 U.S.C. 793(e), which involves passing classified information to an uncleared third-party, but not a foreign government. The remaining criminal charges for abusing access to a Secret-level SIPR network to obtain over 150,000 classified U.S. State Department cables, as well as an unspecified classified Powerpoint presentation. He’s also accused of uploading unauthorized software to the SIPR network, which is used by Departments of State and Defense.

More to come.

No comments:

Post a Comment