We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks Page #15

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that first and foremost

he or she is responsible

for the well-being

of each and every one

of their soldiers,

to include the ones

sitting in the brig.

I can't go into details

about some of their concerns,

but some of this has to do with

Private Manning's safety as well.

[REPORTER SPEAKING]

Do you disagree

with P.J. Crowley?

I think I gave you an answer

to the substantive issue.

CROWLEY:
Once my comments were brought

to the President of the United States,

I felt the only thing

I should do is resign.

I stand by what I said.

NARRATOR:
What was unsaid

was any consideration of holding

Manning's supervisors accountable

for permitting the greatest security

breach in American history.

NARRATOR:
Manning's commanding officer

only received a minor demotion.

The Army brought 22 charges

against Manning.

They included

"aiding the enemy,"

without naming just

who the enemy was.

For these charges,

Manning faced life in prison,

and a possible death sentence.

DAVIES:
People who

don't like the leak

try to say that it was

damaging national security.

Have you ever seen

any evidence

that American national security has

been damaged in any way by this?

And if you look at what the whistle-blower

is saying in that online chat,

and look at what

he doesn't say.

He doesn't say,

"I want money. "

He doesn't say, "I'm going

to go to Russia or China.

"I'm going to go to al-Qaeda

and give them this stuff."

It doesn't happen.

He says, "This is the material that the

people of the world need to have."

And it was naive to

dump the whole lot

without thinking ahead about how

that was going to be handled.

But you don't have to

lock this guy up for decades

and effectively put him

through forms of torture.

That's a politically motivated

act of vengeance

on somebody who hasn't

damaged national security,

he's caused embarrassment.

CLINTON:
Let's be clear.

This disclosure is not just an attack

on America's foreign policy interests,

it is an attack on the

international community.

BROOKE:
The American government

said, "You can't publish this.

"It's dangerous. It's going to damage

world affairs, diplomacy, etc."

But then you

publish it anyway,

and it's for the greater good,

telling people

what they needed to know.

BALL:
The question becomes, does

it matter and what changes?

I think really we have to say

that something has started,

and it's not going to be

about WikiLeaks.

It's going to be about

transparency and accountability,

and keeping power in check,

keeping governments

responsible,

and who cares who does it

as long as someone does.

LEONARD:
Information by its

very nature needs to flow.

In some regards, withholding information

is trying to repeal the laws of gravity.

You may succeed for

a short period of time,

but sooner or later

it's going to break free.

INTERVIEWER:
Now you're

talking just like a hacker.

[LAUGHING]

[AUDIENCE MEMBER SPEAKING]

I think Manning did

the right thing

and what you did

you have to live with!

[AUDIENCE APPLAUDING]

I think you belong

in Guantanamo!

PANELIST:
Whoa! Okay.

LAMO:
I care more about Bradley

than many of his supporters do.

We had a chance to be friends,

however briefly, and...

He opened up

in a lot of ways

about his life,

his personal life,

and

he did it in a way

that someone only would do

to someone they

felt they could trust.

And I had to

betray that trust

for the sake of

all of the people

that he put in danger.

And I wish to hell

that it had never happened.

[SNIFFLES]

WEBSTER:
It's going to be

a question for the ages,

why Bradley Manning reached out

to somebody he really didn't know

and entrusted him with such

a life-altering secret.

The only thing I can come up with is that

once he saw the results of the leak,

the need just to share that,

just probably grew and grew.

He just needed

to tell anybody,

and he thought Adrian was

the right person to tell.

Whistle-blowing is

a really isolating act.

It's a courageous

and phenomenal thing to do,

but you are essentially

doing something

that your colleagues

and your friends

would not want you to do

and not understand.

It alienates you

further from them.

A source who needs

to talk to someone

and explain what they've done and

think through what they've done

needs someone safe

to do that to.

BALL:
In the logs, Manning says,

he couldn't talk to WikiLeaks,

that's not how they work.

Does that protect

whistle-blowers

or does it protect WikiLeaks?

DOMSCHEIT-BERG:
In the end,

everybody's just human.

If you're leaking

material to someone,

if you're telling

a reporter a good story,

something that really

makes a difference,

then I think just from

a human perspective,

it's really difficult not

to get any credit for it.

Because no one can tap you on the

shoulder and say, "Good job.

"Courageous thing you did."

And this is really the

complicated part about it.

How do you make sure that your source

doesn't compromise themselves?

NARRATOR:
In the chats, Manning

sent a link to "Pale Blue Dot,"

a famous photo

of Earth he saw

while reading an essay

by the astronomer Carl Sagan.

"That's home," said Sagan.

"That's us.

"Every saint and sinner in the

history of our species lived there,

"on a mote of dust,

"suspended on a sunbeam.

"In our obscurity,

in all this vastness,

"there is no hint that help

will come from elsewhere

"to save us from ourselves.

"It is up to us."

After international outcry,

the US Army moved Bradley Manning

out of solitary confinement.

In February 2013, Manning pled guilty

to leaking documents to WikiLeaks.

The Army continued to prosecute

him for "aiding the enemy."

Bradley Manning was held without

trial for more than 3 years.

As of March 2013, Julian Assange

remained confined to a small room

in the Ecuadorian Embassy

in London.

He promised to publish

more documents

and announced his campaign

to run for Senate in Australia.

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