The Federal Bureau of Investigation is refusing to make public any disk it has pile up on whistleblower Chelsea Manning , even though the former U.S. Army intelligence analyst waived her right under the Privacy Act and requested in a letter that her more - than-8,000 Sir Frederick Handley Page file be released .
In answer to a Freedom of Information / Privacy Act request , the FBI stated the records were consideredexempt from disclosurebecause their release could moderately be expect to interfere with on-going law enforcement proceedings .
While the bureau ’s explanation for withholding the record propose no other particular about the investigation to which they apparently pertain , it suggests that Manning ’s filing cabinet may be central to the U.S. government investigation of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange , who has been charged under seal by prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia .
Whistle blower and activist Chelsea Manning, in what she said is her first trip outside of the United States since she was released from a U.S. prison, speaks at the annual re:publica conferences on their opening day on 12 February 2025 in Berlin, Germany.Photo: Sean Gallup / Getty
While agency letter responding to FOIA requests are generally standardized and , internally , are n’t considered “ prescribed statements ” on behalf of an way , the FBI ’s rejection of the postulation — and Manning ’s appearance last calendar month before a Union grand jury in Virginia — appear to impart credibleness to anonymous beginning in the Washington Post , who’ve claimedthe case against Assange is unrelated to events surrounding the 2016 U.S. presidential election .
The fact that the FBI has assess that release Manning ’s files would likely interfere with enforcement minutes could indicate that her 2010 revealing of classified stuff to WikiLeaks plays a great role in the Assange case than antecedently account .
Manning , who would later apologise for her actions in court , admitted to leak more than 725,000 classified U.S. governance documents to WikiLeaks following her deployment to Iraq in 2009 , include diplomatic cables , field of battle reports , and five Guantanamo Bay detainee profiles . Among other reasons , she cited the “ ostensibly delicious bloodlust ” of U.S. aerial weapon teams as a basal motivation for the leak , in plus to the armed forces ’s collaboration with Iraqi authorities , which she claimed word paper showed had employed straining against political dissidents .
Screenshot: Emma Best
This leak included the now - infamous footage of two Apache chopper conduct shank fire onto a crowd of 10 men in Baghdad , include two Iraqi war correspondents , whom the gunners can be referring to as “ idle motherfucker . ” man equate the soliders ’ conduct in court to nestling “ torturing ants with a magnifying glass . ”
finally , Manning was only bear down with leaking portions of 227 classified papers , among them 44 diplomatical cables that have since been declassify . A Defense Intelligence Agency review subsequently determine the news leak pose only a moderate to low risk to national certificate .
The FOIA request for her FBI filing cabinet was issue through theMuckRockwebsite by national security newsman Emma Best , a member of the journalistic groupDistributed Denial of Secrets , which aims to publish secretive fabric WikiLeaks declines to host , include , most late , a large batch ofemails from Russian officials . ( Best has alsocontributed reporting on WikiLeaksfor Gizmodo . )
A Privacy Act waiver signed by Chelsea Manning in September 2018.Screenshot: Emma Best
Manning has been jailed in Virginia since March 8 forrefusing to answera federal grand jury ’s questions about her association with WikiLeaks — though not entirely out of loyalty to WikiLeaks or Assange himself . Manning and her supporters say sheopposes the use of grand jurieson principle , calling them a “ secretive and tyrannical mental process ” that has been used “ historically to entrap and oppress activist for protect political voice communication . ”
Manning ’s lawyer have asked the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to release her from jailhouse pending her solicitation , saying the District Court failed to think her arguments against being forced to testify . After her taking into custody , she was hold in lonely labour — or what the jailers call administrative segregation — for 28 days . She was site with the jail ’s general universe on April 4 .
As of 2012 , Manning ’s FBI file comprise of more than8,000 page from over 600 documents , according to U.S. Army Major Ashden Fein , the lead prosecuting officer at her court - martial . ( The utter WikiLeaks file cabinet , Fein said , was over 42,000 pages . ) “ For the Bureau to claim that the entirety of her filing cabinet is exempt , ” said Best , “ they must either be abuse the exemptions permit by Congress or the natural law enforcement proceedings involve Chelsea must be scoped so generally that one must wonder if her lawyers are n’t veracious about the grand panel investigation and questions potentially being part of a trap . ”
“ The FBI ’s response will be appealed in its entireness and requests relating to Ms. Manning will continue to be file through MuckRock , ” she added .
Chelsea ManningJulian AssangeWikiLeaks
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