His Plea Deal Largely Rejected, Bradley Manning Convictions May Mean More Than A Century In Prison

Andy Greenberg

Bradley Manning may have been happy to hear in his court martial ruling Tuesday that he didn’t “aid the enemy” with his release of hundreds of thousands of classified files to WikiLeaks. But with his plea deal largely rejected and 136 years in prison still looming as a maximum sentence for the 19 other charges on which he was found guilty, any ideological victory may be cold comfort.
Judge Denise Lind ruled Tuesday that Manning violated the Espionage Act in 19 different instances with his release of secret files to Julian Assange‘s secret-spilling organization, which WikiLeaks published over the court of 2010 and 2011. According to a detailed account of the verdict released by the Freedom of the Press Foundation’s Alexa O’Brien, the court acquitted him on two charges: Aiding the enemy, the most serious charge with a maximum sentence of life in prison, and one Espionage Act charge related to a video of an bomber airstrike in the Afghani village of Garani that killed dozens of civilians. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years on 12 Espionage Act and theft charges, however, as well as two year maximum sentences on other charges including wrongfully storing classified information and misusing computer equipment.
The ruling represents a near-total rejection of Manning’s plea offer, in which he admitted guilt to the majority of the charges in return for maximum sentences of two years to each, a deal that would have likely led to a maximum of more than decade in prison. “He was very upfront about what we he did, he explained why he was guilty, why he violated his oath to keep documents secret,” says Nathan Fuller, a representative for the Bradley Manning Support Network who has attended the trial. “But to reject his pleas on all these charges makes it clear they wanted to send a chilling effect, to instill fear in those who would be inspired by him.”
Manning’s convictions represent the end of a three-year saga for the young Army private, who after his arrest was initially kept in solitary confinement, forced to sleep naked and kept on a strict suicide watch. His harsh treatment may have helped to influence the fate of Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who fled to Hong Kong and then Moscow to avoid similar Espionage Act charges. Snowden has since been offered political asylum by Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua, with Manning’s pre-trial punishment providing evidence of the vindictive treatment Snowden may receive if extradited to the United States.
Manning is one of seven leakers prosecuted under the Espionage Act during the Obama administration, and faces by far the longest of any of those convicted. Former CIA official John Kiriakou was sentenced earlier this year to 30 months in prison for revealing the name of a covert CIA agent to a freelance journalist, and FBI translator Shamai Leibowitz was sentenced to 20 months in prison in 2010 for leaking classified secrets to the blog Tikun Olam. Former NSA analyst Tom Drake was sentenced to misdemeanor charges of computer misuse after being prosecuted under more serious felony Espionage Act charges for more than a year.
In Manning’s case, the charges carry no minimum sentences. But with maximum sentences longer than any of those leakers by more than a century, his supporters fear the worst. “We’re clearly outraged,” says the Bradley Manning Support Network’s Fuller. “It’s tantamount to a life sentence…To equate whistleblowing with espionage, treason or spying is really disgraceful.”
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