The mountain of classified material Army Pfc Bradley Manning gave to the anti-secrecy organisation WikiLeaks revealed sensitive information about military operations and tactics, including code words and the name at least one enemy target, according to evidence the government presented today.
Manning, a 25-year-old Oklahoma native, has said he didn't believe the more than 700,000 battlefield reports, diplomatic cables and video clips he leaked while working as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad would hurt national security.
Prosecutors want to convict him of aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence, for leaking information they say found its way to Osama bin Laden.
For the first time, prosecutors presented evidence that the disclosures compromised sensitive information in dozens of categories. The evidence written statements the defence and prosecutors accepted as substitutions for live testimony. It was read aloud in court.
In one such statement, a classification expert, retired Air Force Lt Col Martin Nehring, said his review of Afghanistan and Iraq battlefield reports revealed techniques for neutralising improvised explosives, the name of an enemy target, the names of criminal suspects and troop movements.
Navy Reserve Lt Cmdr Thomas Hoskins said his review of leaked Afghanistan battlefield reports found they revealed code words, tactics and techniques for responding to roadside bombings, weapon capabilities and assistance the United States had gotten from foreign nationals in locating suspects.
The evidence also covered leaked material from the Army's investigation into a 2009 airstrike in Afghanistan's Farah province that killed at least 26 civilians in the village off Garani. Manning has acknowledged leaking investigation documents and video of the airstrike. The leaked material forms the basis for one of eight federal espionage charges.
Prosecutors began the day by presenting evidence Manning used his work computer to access a classified 2008 Army counterintelligence report about the possibility that WikiLeaks posed a national security threat. The evidence indicated Manning first accessed the report Dec. 1, 2009, about three weeks after he started work in Baghdad.
