Evidence presented at Article 32 hearing
In April 2011, a panel of experts, having completed a medical and
mental evaluation of Manning, ruled that she was fit to stand trial.
An Article 32 hearing, presided over by Lieutenant Colonel Paul
Almanza, was convened on December 16, 2011, at Fort Meade, Maryland;
the hearing resulted in Almanza's recommending that Manning be
referred to a general court-martial. She was arraigned on February
23, 2012, and declined to enter a plea.
During the Article 32 hearing, the prosecution, led by Captain
Ashden Fein, presented 300,000 pages of documents in evidence,
including chat logs and classified material. The court heard from two
Army investigators, Special Agent David Shaver, head of the digital
forensics and research branch of the Army's Computer Crime
Investigative Unit (CCIU); and Mark Johnson, a digital forensics
contractor from ManTech International, who works for the CCIU. They
testified that they had found 100,000 State Department cables on a
workplace computer Manning had used between November 2009 and May
2010; 400,000 military reports from Iraq and 91,000 from Afghanistan
on an SD card found in her basement room in her aunt's home in
Potomac, Maryland; and 10,000 cables on her personal MacBook Pro and
storage devices that they said had not been passed to WikiLeaks
because a file was corrupted. They also recovered 14 to 15 pages of
encrypted chats, in unallocated space on Manning's MacBook hard
drive, between Manning and someone believed to be Julian Assange. Two
of the chat handles, which used the Berlin Chaos Computer Club's
domain (ccc.de), were associated with the names Julian Assange and
Nathaniel Frank.
Johnson said he found SSH logs on the MacBook that showed an SFTP
connection, from an IP address that resolved to Manning's aunt's
home, to a Swedish IP address with links to WikiLeaks. Also found was
a text file named "Readme", attached to the logs and
apparently written by Manning to Assange, which called the Iraq and
Afghan War logs "possibly one of the most significant
documents of our time, removing the fog of war and revealing the true
nature of 21st century asymmetric warfare". The
investigators testified they had also recovered an exchange from May
2010 between Manning and Eric Schmiedl, a Boston mathematician, in
which Manning said she was the source of the Baghdad helicopter
attack ("Collateral Murder") video. Johnson said
there had been two attempts to delete the material from the MacBook.
The operating system had been re-installed in January 2010, and on or
around January 31, 2010, an attempt had been made to erase the hard
drive by doing a "zero-fill", which involves
overwriting material with zeroes. The material was recovered after
the overwrite attempts from unallocated space.
Manning's lawyers argued that the government had overstated the
harm the release of the documents had caused and had overcharged
Manning to force her to give evidence against Assange. The defense
also raised questions about whether Manning's confusion over her
gender identity affected her behavior and decision making.
Guilty plea, trial, sentence
United States v. Manning
The judge, Army Colonel Denise Lind, ruled in January 2013 that
any sentence would be reduced by 112 days because of the treatment
Manning received at Quantico. On February 28, Manning pleaded guilty
to 10 of the 22 charges. Reading for over an hour from a 35-page
statement, she said she had leaked the cables "to show the
true cost of war". Prosecutors pursued a court-martial on
the remaining charges.
The trial began on June 3, 2013. Manning was convicted on July 30,
on 17 of the 22 charges in their entirety, including five counts of
espionage and theft, and an amended version of four other charges;
she was acquitted of aiding the enemy. The sentencing phase began the
next day.
Captain Michael Worsley, a military psychologist who had treated
Manning before her arrest, testified that Manning had been left
isolated in the Army, trying to deal with gender identity issues in a
"hyper-masculine environment". David Moulton, a Navy
forensic psychiatrist who saw Manning after the arrest, said Manning
had narcissistic traits, and showed signs of both fetal alcohol
syndrome and Asperger syndrome. He said that, in leaking the
material, Manning had been "acting out [a] grandiose
ideation".
A defense psychiatrist, testifying to Manning's motives, suggested
a different agenda:
Well, Pfc Manning was under the impression that his leaked
information was going to really change how the world views the wars
in Afghanistan and Iraq, and future wars, actually. This was an
attempt to crowdsource analysis of the war, and it was his opinion
that if ... through crowdsourcing, enough analysis was done on these
documents, which he felt to be very important, that it would lead to
a greater good ... that society as a whole would come to the
conclusion that the war wasn't worth it ... that really no wars are
worth it.
On August 14, Manning apologized to the court: "I am sorry
that my actions hurt people. I'm sorry that they hurt the United
States. I am sorry for the unintended consequences of my actions.
When I made these decisions I believed I was going to help people,
not hurt people. ... At the time of my decisions, I was dealing with
a lot of issues."
Manning's offenses carried a maximum sentence of 90 years. The
government asked for 60 years as a deterrent to others, while
Manning's lawyer asked for no more than 25 years. She was sentenced
on August 21 to 35 years in prison, reduction in rank to private
(private E-1 or PVT), forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a
dishonorable discharge. She was given credit for 1,293 days of
pretrial confinement, including 112 days for her treatment at
Quantico, and would have been eligible for parole after serving
one-third of the sentence. She was confined at the United States
Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
The sentence was criticized as "unjust and unfair"
by The Guardian, and as "excessive" by The New York
Times.
On April 14, 2014, Manning's request for clemency was denied; the
case went to the United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals for
further review.
Requests for release
On September 3, 2013, Manning's lawyer filed a Petition for
Commutation of Sentence to President Obama through the pardon
attorney at the Department of Justice and Secretary of the Army John
M. McHugh. he petition contended that Manning's disclosures did not
cause any "real damage", and that the documents in
question did not merit protection as they were not sensitive. The
request included a supporting letter from Amnesty International which
said that Manning's leaks had exposed violations of human rights.
David Coombs's cover letter touched on Manning's role as a
whistleblower, asking that Manning be granted a full pardon or that
her sentence be reduced to time served.
In April 2015, Amnesty International posted online a letter from
Manning in which she wrote: "I am now preparing for my
court-martial appeal before the first appeals court. The appeal team,
with my attorneys Nancy Hollander and Vince Ward, are hoping to file
our brief before the court in the next six months. We have already
had success in getting the court to respect my gender identity by
using feminine pronouns in the court filings (she, her, etc.).”
In November 2016, Manning made a formal petition to President
Obama to reduce her 35-year sentence to the six years of time she had
already served. On December 10, 2016, a White House petition to
commute her sentence reached the minimum 100,000 signatures required
for an official response. Lawyers familiar with clemency applications
stated in December 2016 that the pardon was unlikely to happen; the
request did not fit into the usual criteria.
Commutation
In January 2017, a Justice Department source said that Manning was
on President Obama's short list for a possible commutation. On
January 17, 2017, President Obama commuted all but four months of
Manning's remaining sentence. In a press conference held on January
18, Obama stated that Manning's original 35-year prison sentence was
"very disproportionate relative to what other leakers have
received" and that "it makes sense to commute—and not
pardon—her sentence." In 2021, Forbes reported that
Obama's commutation of Manning's sentence was "unconditional."
Notwithstanding her commutation, Manning's military appeal would
continue, with her attorney saying, "We fight in her appeal
to clear her name."
On January 26, 2017, in her first column for The Guardian since
the commutation, Manning lamented that President Obama's political
opponents consistently refused to compromise, resulting in "very
few permanent accomplishments" during his time in office. As The
Guardian summarized it, she saw Obama's legacy as "a warning
against not being bold enough". In response, President
Donald Trump tweeted that Manning was an "ungrateful traitor"
and should "never have been released".
Release
Manning was released from Fort Leavenworth's detention center at
approximately 2 a.m. Central Time on May 17, 2017. Although sentenced
during her court-martial to be dishonorably discharged, Manning was
reportedly returned to active unpaid "excess leave"
status while her appeal was pending.
Appeal
On May 31, 2018, the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals upheld
Manning's 2013 court-martial conviction of violating the Espionage
Act. The court rejected Manning's contention that the statute is too
vague to provide fair notice of the criminal nature of disclosing
classified documents. "The facts of this case," the
three-judge panel ruled, "leave no question as to what
constituted national defense information. Appellant's training and
experience indicate, without any doubt, she was on notice and
understood the nature of the information she was disclosing and how
its disclosure could negatively affect national defense." The
court also rejected Manning's assertion that her actions in
disclosing classified information related to national security are
protected by the First Amendment. Manning, the court found, "had
no First Amendment right to make the disclosures—doing so not only
violated the nondisclosure agreements she signed but also jeopardized
national security."
On May 30, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
denied Manning's petition for grant of review of the decision of the
U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals.
2019 jailing for contempt
In February 2019, Manning received a subpoena to testify in a U.S.
government case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the
existence of which had been accidentally revealed in November 2018,
which was proceeding under prosecutors in Virginia. Manning objected
to the secrecy of the grand jury proceedings and announced she would
refuse to testify, saying "we've seen this power abused
countless times to target political speech. I have nothing to
contribute to this case and I resent being forced to endanger myself
by participating in this predatory practice." Manning also
said she had provided all the information she had in 2013 during her
court martial and that she stood by her previous answers.
On March 8, 2019, Manning was found in contempt of court and
jailed in the women's wing of a detention center in Alexandria,
Virginia, with the judge conditioning her release on her testifying
or the grand jury concluding its work. Manning was initially held in
administrative segregation for 28 days until she was placed in the
general population on April 5, 2019. Her supporters described her
period in administrative segregation as "effective solitary
confinement" as it involved "up to 22 hours each day
spent in isolation". Officials at the facility said that
administrative segregation was used for safety reasons and that
prisoners still had access to recreation and social visits during
that time. On April 22, 2019, a federal appeals court upheld the
trial court's decision holding Manning in contempt and denied a
request by Manning that she be released on bail.
After the grand jury's term expired, Manning was released on May
9, 2019, and served with another subpoena to appear before a new
grand jury on May 16. Manning again refused to testify, stating that
she "believe[d] this grand jury seeks to undermine the
integrity of public discourse with the aim of punishing those who
expose any serious, ongoing, and systemic abuses of power by this
government". The court ordered her returned to jail and
fined $500 for each day over 30 days and $1,000 for each day over 60
days. In June 2019, she challenged the fines because of inability to
pay. On December 30, 2019, United Nations special rapporteur Nils
Melzer released a letter dated November 1, 2019 in which he accused
the U.S. government of torturing Manning, called for her immediate
release, and called for her court fines to be canceled or reimbursed.
On March 11, 2020, Manning attempted suicide two days before she
was scheduled to appear before a judge on a motion to terminate
sanctions. Alexandria Sheriff Dana Lawhorne reported that Manning was
safe and her lawyers said she was recovering in a hospital.
On March 12, 2020, U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga of the
Eastern District of Virginia found that the business of the grand
jury had concluded. Since Manning's testimony was no longer needed,
the judge found that detention no longer served any coercive purpose,
and ordered her released. He denied a request by Manning's lawyers to
vacate her accrued fines of $256,000, which he ordered due and
payable immediately. That same day, a supporter launched an online
crowdfunding campaign to defray Manning's fines. Within 48 hours,
nearly 7,000 donations ranging from $5 to $10,000 were received,
totaling $267,000. A separate crowdfund by the same supporter raised
an additional $50,000 to help pay Manning's post-incarceration living
expenses.
In January 2021, in refusing to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian
Assange to the U.S. for trial on federal charges, UK District Judge
Vanessa Baraitser cited Manning's March 2020 suicide attempt to
support finding that, if exposed to the "harsh conditions"
of incarceration in America, "Assange's mental health would
deteriorate causing him to commit suicide."
Reaction to disclosures
The publication of the leaked material, particularly the
diplomatic cables, attracted in-depth coverage worldwide, with
several governments blocking websites that contained embarrassing
details. Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, said: "I
can't think of a time when there was ever a story generated by a news
organization where the White House, the Kremlin, Chávez, India,
China, everyone in the world was talking about these things. ... I've
never known a story that created such mayhem that wasn't an event
like a war or a terrorist attack."
United States Navy Admiral Michael Mullen, then Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the leaks had placed the lives of
American soldiers and Afghan informants in danger. Journalist Glenn
Greenwald argued that Manning was the most important whistleblower
since Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971. In an
impromptu questioning session after a fundraiser, captured on a cell
phone video, President Barack Obama said that Manning "broke
the law", which was later criticized as "unlawful
command influence" on Manning's upcoming trial.
In 2011, Manning and WikiLeaks were credited in part, along with
news reporters and political analysts, as catalysts for the Arab
Spring that began in December 2010, when waves of protesters rose up
against rulers across the Middle East and North Africa, after the
leaked cables exposed government corruption. In 2012, however, James
L. Gelvin, an American scholar of Middle Eastern history, wrote:
"After the outbreak [January 2011] of the Egyptian uprising
... journalists decided to abandon another term they had applied to
the Tunisian uprising: the first 'WikiLeaks Revolution,' a title they
had adopted that overemphasized the role played by the leaked
American cables about corruption in provoking the protests."
A Washington Post editorial asked why an apparently unstable Army
private had been able to access and transfer sensitive material in
the first place. According to her biographer, the American far right
saw Manning's sexuality as evidence that gay people were unfit for
military service, while the American mainstream thought of Manning as
a gay soldier driven mad by bullying.
A report written by the Department of Defense a year after the
breach found that Manning's document leaks had no significant
strategic impact on U.S. war efforts. The heavily redacted final
report was not published until June 2017, after a Freedom of
Information request by investigative reporter Jason Leopold.
Awards and tributes
In 2011, Manning was awarded a "Whistleblowerpreis"
by the German Section of the International Association of Lawyers
against Nuclear Arms and the Federation of German Scientists. While
still in detention in 2011, Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills and Nash
released a song, "Almost Gone (The Ballad of Bradley
Manning)", in reference to her deteriorated mental state. In
2012, she was awarded "People's Choice Award"
awarded by Global Exchange. In 2013, she was awarded the US Peace
Prize by the US Peace Memorial Foundation "for conspicuous
bravery, at the risk of his own freedom, above and beyond the call of
duty." In the same year, she was awarded the Sean MacBride
Peace Prize by the International Peace Bureau. In 2014, she was
awarded the Sam Adams Award by Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in
Intelligence.
Icelandic and Swedish Pirate Party MPs nominated Manning and
fellow whistleblower Edward Snowden for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.
In 2013, Roots Action launched a petition nominating Manning for the
prize that received more than 100,000 supporting signatures.
In May 2015, Anything to Say?, an art installation made of mobile
bronze statues of Manning, Edward Snowden, and Julian Assange, was
placed at Berlin's Alexanderplatz for a weekend, as a "monument
for courage". Germany's Green Party sponsored the sculpture
created by Italian sculptor Davide Dormino. Afterwards, the
installation was moved and exhibited in different European cities.
In 2015, Paper magazine commissioned artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg
to create 2D DNA phenotype portraits of Manning using DNA collected
from cheek swabs and hair clippings sent to the artist from the
incarcerated soldier. 3D printed versions of the portraits premiered
at the World Economic Forum in 2016. In the summer of 2017, Manning
(by then released from prison) and Dewey-Hagborg presented their
collaboration as part of an exhibition at the Fridman Gallery in New
York City.
In September 2017, Manning accepted the EFF Pioneer Award in
recognition of her actions as a whistleblower and for her work as an
advocate for government transparency and transgender rights. In
November, she was named 2017 Newsmaker of the Year by Out, which
noted her "whistle-in-the-wind tenacity that belies the
trauma she's had to contend with". Later that month, Bitch
listed her among the first-ever "Bitch 50" impactful
creators, artists, and activists in pop culture, recognizing her as
"a leading voice for transgender and healthcare rights".
In December, Foreign Policy honored Manning as one of its forty-eight
2017 Global Thinkers "for forcing the United States to
question who is a traitor and who is a hero".
In October 2020, Manning shared with the German nonprofit
investigative journalism organization CORRECT!V and Greece's
anonymous Novartis whistleblowers the third annual European United
Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) prize for Journalists,
Whistleblowers and Defenders of the Right to Information. The GUE/NGL
posted a video of her acceptance from her home in Brooklyn, New York.
Gender transition
2010
In an article written by Manning, she says her first public
appearance as female was in February 2010 while on leave from her
military duties; Manning was exhilarated to blend in as a woman.
2013
On August 22, 2013, the day after sentencing, Manning's attorney
issued a press release to the Today show announcing that his client
was a female, and asked that she be referred to by her new name of
Chelsea and feminine pronouns. Manning's statement included the
following:
As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want
everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female.
Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to
begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will
support me in this transition. I also request that, starting today,
you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except
in official mail to the confinement facility). I look forward to
receiving letters from supporters and having the opportunity to write
back.
The news media split in its reaction to Manning's request; some
organizations used the new name and pronouns, and others continued to
use the former ones. Advocacy groups such as GLAAD, the National
Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, and the Human Rights
Campaign (HRC) encouraged media outlets to refer to Manning by her
self-identified name and pronoun.
2014
In April 2014, the Kansas District Court granted a petition from
Manning for a legal name change. An Army spokesman stated that while
the Army would update personnel records to acknowledge the name
change, the military would continue to regard Manning as a male.
Manning sought hormone therapy and the right to live as a woman while
confined, consistent with her gender dysphoria, which had been
confirmed by two Army medical specialists. Such treatment is provided
in civilian federal prisons when it is found to be medically
necessary, but it is not available in military prisons. The Pentagon
policy at the time considered transgender individuals ineligible to
serve.
In July, the Federal Bureau of Prisons rejected a request by the
Army to transfer Manning from the USDB to a civilian facility for
treatment of her gender dysphoria. Instead, the Army kept Manning in
military custody and said it would begin rudimentary gender
treatment, which could include allowing her to wear female
undergarments and possibly receive hormone treatments.
On August 12, 2014, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and
Manning's civilian attorney David Coombs said Manning was not
receiving treatment for her gender identity condition as previously
approved by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. They notified the USDB,
Hagel and other Defense Department officials that a lawsuit would be
filed if they did not confirm by September 4 that treatment would be
provided. On August 22, Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Alayne Conway told
NBC News, "The Department of Defense has approved a request
by Army leadership to provide required medical treatment for an
inmate diagnosed with gender dysphoria." Although Conway
would not discuss "the medical needs of an individual",
she did say, "In general terms, the initial stages of
treatment for individuals with gender dysphoria include psychotherapy
and elements of the 'real life experience' therapy. Treatment for the
condition is highly individualized and generally is sequential and
graduated." The Army declined to say when treatment might
begin.
In September, Manning filed a lawsuit in federal district court in
Washington, D.C., against Secretary of Defense Hagel, claiming she
had "been denied access to medically necessary treatment"
for gender dysphoria. She sued to be allowed to grow her hair longer
and use cosmetics, and to receive hormone treatments "to
express her female gender".
2015
On February 12, 2015, USA Today reported that the commandant of
the USDB wrote in a February 5 memo, "After carefully
considering the recommendation that (hormone treatment) is medically
appropriate and necessary, and weighing all associated safety and
security risks presented, I approve adding (hormone treatment) to
Inmate Manning's treatment plan." According to USA Today,
Manning remained a soldier, and the decision to administer hormone
therapy was a first for the Army. Manning was not allowed to grow her
hair longer. Her ACLU attorney, Chase Strangio, said that the delay
in approving her hormone treatment "came with a significant
cost to Chelsea and her mental health".
On March 5, in response to Manning's request for an order
compelling the military to use pronouns that conform to her chosen
gender identity, the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals ruled,
"Reference to appellant in all future formal papers filed
before this court and all future orders and decisions issued by this
court shall either be neutral, e.g., Private First Class Manning or
appellant, or employ a feminine pronoun."
On March 14, the digital library host Cryptome posted an unsigned
public copy of a court document, filed March 10, wherein the parties
to Manning's September 2014 lawsuit against Secretary of Defense
Hagel agreed to stay proceedings for seven months, after which time
they would address how the litigation should proceed in light of
Manning's status at that time. The document revealed that the Army
was then providing Manning with weekly psychotherapy, including
psychotherapy specific to gender dysphoria; cross-sex hormone
therapy; female undergarments; the ability to wear prescribed
cosmetics in her daily life at the USDB; and speech therapy.
In April 2015, Amnesty International posted online a letter from
Manning in which she disclosed,
I finally began my prescribed regime of hormones to continue my
overdue gender transition in February. It's been such an amazing
relief for my body and brain to finally come into alignment with each
other. My stress and anxiety levels have tapered off quite
considerably. Overall, things are beginning to move along nicely.
2016
On September 13, 2016, the ACLU announced that the army would be
granting Manning's request for gender transition surgery, a first for
a transgender inmate. In December, Manning's attorneys reported that
her military doctor refused Manning's request to change the gender on
her military records to female.
2017
In January 2017, Manning wrote to The New York Times that although
months had passed, she had still not seen a surgeon. At the time of
Manning's release from prison in May 2017, her attorney stressed that
she would be pursuing her own medical care and "building her
life on her own terms, separate from the military". Manning
subsequently stated via her verified Twitter account that her
healthcare from the military had stopped on May 16, 2017, and that
she had secured a private health plan. She said her gender transition
while in prison had cost "only $600 over 2 years",
explaining that the Department of Defense "got meds at a
markdown". Although the Army had agreed in September 2016 to
allow her to have gender transition surgery, the operation was not
performed before her release.
On May 22, 2017, Manning's 2014 lawsuit seeking a federal court to
order the Defense Department to provide hormone therapy and other
treatment for her gender identity condition was dismissed because,
her ACLU attorney explained, "she is free".
2018
On October 20, 2018, Manning tweeted a photograph of herself in a
hospital bed reportedly recovering from gender reassignment surgery.
"After almost a decade of fighting," she wrote,
"thru prison, the courts, a hunger strike, and thru the
insurance company—I finally got surgery this week." In
March 2019, in the context of medical care provided during her
re-incarceration, the news media continued to report that she had
undergone gender reassignment surgery. In a declaration to the United
States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia filed on
May 6, 2019, Manning formally attested that she underwent gender
confirmation surgery in October 2018.
Prison life
In March 2015, Bloomberg News reported that Manning could be
visited by only those she had named before her imprisonment, and not
by journalists. She could not be photographed or give interviews on
camera. Manning was not allowed to browse the web, but could consult
print news and have access to new gender theory texts.
In April 2015, Amnesty International posted online a letter from
Manning in which she described her daily life. "My days here
are busy and very routine," she wrote. "I am taking
college correspondence courses for a bachelor's degree. I also work
out a lot to stay fit, and read newspapers, magazines and books to
keep up-to-date on current events around the world and learn new
things."
Also that month, Cosmopolitan published the first interview with
Manning in prison, conducted by mail. Cosmo reported that Manning was
optimistic about recent progress but said that not being allowed to
grow her hair long was "painful and awkward ... I am torn up.
I get through each day okay, but at night, when I'm alone in my room,
I finally burn out and crash." Manning said it was "very
much a relief" to announce that she is a woman and did not
fear the public response. "Honestly, I'm not terribly worried
about what people out there might think of me. I just try to be
myself." According to Cosmo, Manning had her own cell with
"two tall vertical windows that face the sun", and
could see "trees and hills and blue sky and all the things
beyond the buildings and razor wire". Manning denied being
harassed by other inmates and claimed some had become confidantes.
Writing
In February 2015, Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief of Guardian US,
announced that Manning had joined The Guardian as a contributing
opinion writer on war, gender, and freedom of information. In 2014,
The Guardian had published two op-eds by Manning: "How to
make Isis fall on its own sword" (September 16) and, "I
am a transgender woman and the government is denying my civil rights"
(December 8). Manning's debut under the new arrangement,
"The CIA's torturers and the leaders who approved their
actions must face the law," appeared on March 9, 2015.
In April 2015, Manning began communicating via Twitter, under the
handle @xychelsea, by using a voice phone to dictate to
intermediaries, who tweeted on her behalf.
Suicide attempts
On July 5, 2016, Manning was taken to a hospital after what media
sources characterized as a suicide attempt. The following week,
Manning confirmed through an attorney statement that she had
attempted to end her own life. On July 28, 2016, the ACLU announced
that Manning was under investigation and facing several possible
charges related to her suicide attempt. She was not allowed to have
legal representation at the disciplinary hearing for these charges.
At the hearing, held on September 22, she was sentenced to 14 days in
solitary confinement, with seven of those days suspended
indefinitely. Manning emerged from solitary confinement on October
12, after serving seven days; she said that she was not given the
opportunity to appeal the ruling before being placed in solitary.
In an article following her recovery, entitled "Moving
On", Manning reflected on her change in identity, wishing
people to see her no longer as "Chelsea Manning, formerly
Bradley Manning, a US Army Soldier... convicted...", but as
a person. She used a selfie from 2008 to accompany the article.
In November 2016, Manning disclosed that she made a second suicide
attempt on October 4, 2016, on the first night of her solitary
confinement.
Hunger strike
On September 9, 2016, Manning began a hunger strike to protest
what she described as her being bullied by prison authorities and the
U.S. Government. On September 13, the ACLU announced that Manning had
ended the five-day hunger strike after the Army agreed to provide
gender transition surgery. The operation, however, was not performed
before her release from prison in May 2017.
Post-prison life
In a June 9, 2017, appearance on Good Morning America, her first
interview following her release, Manning said she "accepted
responsibility" for her actions, and thanked former
President Obama for giving her "another chance". She
now earns a living through speaking engagements.
Harvard visiting fellowship and rescindment
On September 13, 2017, Manning was named a visiting fellow at
Harvard University. Bill Delahunt, acting director of the Harvard
Institute of Politics, said: "Broadening the range and depth
of opportunity for students to hear from and engage with experts,
leaders and policy-shapers is a cornerstone of the Institute of
Politics. We welcome the breadth of thought-provoking viewpoints on
race, gender, politics and the media." Harvard said Manning
would visit for a limited number of events meant to spark campus
discussion, and in particular would engage students in discourse on
"issues of LGBTQ identity in the military".
According to online newspaper PinkNews, this marked "the only
LGBT-related fellowship in Harvard history".
The next day Michael Morell, former deputy director and twice
acting director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), resigned as
a nonresident senior fellow at Harvard's Belfer Center for Science
and International Affairs. "Unfortunately," Morell
wrote, "I cannot be part of an organization—The Kennedy
School—that honors a convicted felon and leaker of classified
information ... the Kennedy School's decision will assist Ms. Manning
in her long-standing effort to legitimize the criminal path that she
took to prominence, an attempt that may encourage others to leak
classified information as well." Later that day, CIA
director Mike Pompeo advised the university that he supported
Morell's decision, and withdrew from his scheduled public appearance
that evening at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Calling Manning an "American traitor", Pompeo wrote:
"While I have served my country as a soldier in the United
States Army and will continue to defend Ms. Manning's right to offer
a defense of why she chose this path, I believe it is shameful for
Harvard to place its stamp of approval upon her treasonous actions."
On September 15, 2017, Douglas Elmendorf, dean of the Kennedy
School, announced that Manning had been invited to spend only a
single day at the school and that her title of visiting fellow did
not convey a special honor. "We did not intend to honor her
in any way," Elmendorf wrote, "or to endorse any of
her words or deeds ... However, I now think that designating Chelsea
Manning as a Visiting Fellow was a mistake, for which I accept
responsibility. ... Therefore, we are withdrawing the invitation to
her to serve as a Visiting Fellow—and the perceived honor that it
implies to some people—while maintaining the invitation for her to
spend a day at the Kennedy School and speak in the Forum. I apologize
to her and to the many concerned people from whom I have heard today
for not recognizing upfront the full implications of our original
invitation." When Elmendorf phoned Manning, a member of her
support team challenged him to explain why Harvard was so concerned
about the title "visiting fellow". The team was
alienated by his response, which they inferred suggested she had
nothing to contribute. Manning then hung up on the dean.
On September 17, 2017, during a public appearance at The Nantucket
Project in Massachusetts, Manning said: "I'm not ashamed of
being disinvited. I view that just as much of an honored distinction
as the fellowship itself." She added, "This is a
military intelligence and it is a police state in which we can no
longer engage in actual political discourse in our institutions."
Denied entry to Canada
On September 22, 2017, Manning was denied entry to Canada from the
United States because of her criminal record. According to a letter
from Canadian immigration officials, posted online by Manning, she is
inadmissible due to being convicted of offenses equivalent to treason
in Canada. Manning told Reuters that she had planned to vacation in
Montreal and Vancouver, but was stopped at a Quebec border crossing
by the Canada Border Services Agency on the evening of September 21
and detained overnight. She said she would retain a Canadian lawyer
to challenge the inadmissibility finding before a Canadian tribunal.
In October 2021, appearing virtually at an Immigration and Refugee
Board hearing to determine her admissibility, Manning called the
four-year process to visit Canada "exhausting." When
questioned by the adjudicator, Manning did not go into detail about
what she leaked because she is bound by a non-disclosure agreement
with the U.S. Government. The two-day hearing concluded with the
adjudicator indicating a final written decision could be expected in
2022.
Restriction on speech
During an October 8, 2017, appearance at The New Yorker Festival,
Manning said she is legally unable to speak about certain details
concerning her leaks, confirming a July 2017 post from her verified
Twitter account saying "technically, i cant [sic] read,
comment on, discuss, or even look at any leaked material, even if it
was after 2010".
U.S. Senate candidacy
On January 11, 2018, Manning filed with the Federal Election
Commission to run for the U.S. Senate in Maryland. On January 18,
Manning filed with the Maryland State Board of Elections to challenge
the state's senior senator, two-term incumbent Ben Cardin, as a
Democrat in the June 26, 2018, primary election.
On February 1, The Washington Post raised questions about
Manning's eligibility to run. "While her case is on appeal,"
reported The Post, "she is on a technical form of unpaid
active duty, putting her political campaign at odds with Department
of Defense regulations that prohibit military personnel from seeking
public office." Military law expert Eugene R. Fidell of Yale
Law School considered it unlikely the Army would take action against
her, saying, "Services don't like to create martyrs." On
February 2, Manning commented: "This is an issue that's
cropped up mostly from the conservative blogosphere, and the campaign
and we don't believe this is an issue at all. ... I've been issued a
dishonorable discharge, and I'm not sure where the issue lies in this
case." She also confirmed that she was still appealing her
court-martial sentence.
In mid-February, she said she had no plans to run television ads,
explaining, "I can't stand watching campaign ads. We don't
need to go to these old-media methods." Commenting on her
opponent, 74-year-old incumbent Ben Cardin, she stated, "He's
old hat. He's kept this establishment going."
In May, Manning told the Associated Press that she did not, in
fact, consider herself a Democrat, but wanted to shake up
establishment Democrats who were "caving in" to
President Trump. The AP noted that, despite having raised $72,000
during the first quarter (compared to the incumbent's $336,000), "The
candidate has barely made an effort at tapping sources of grassroots
enthusiasm outside of activism circles. And it's easy to find
progressive Democrats who feel her candidacy is just a vehicle to
boost her profile." Manning said she would not run as an
independent should her primary bid fail.
On June 26, 2018, Manning finished second among eight Democrats
vying for their party's U.S. Senate nomination in Maryland's primary
election. Manning received 5.8% of the votes. Incumbent Ben Cardin
won renomination with 80.4% of the votes cast.
Shortly after the polls closed, Manning posted a statement on her
campaign website. "Over the past several months,"
she wrote, "it has become clear that my experiences have
taken an enormous toll on my physical and emotional health. I stepped
back from campaigning to prioritize my own well-being." She
thanked "the more than one thousand individual donors who
generously contributed to our campaign," and "our
team of hundreds of volunteers." But, she added, "after
spending hours and hours knocking on doors and making phone calls,
I'm convinced that the change people truly need goes beyond what our
corrupt two-party system is willing to offer."
Interactions with far-right social media figures
On January 20, 2018, Manning attended "A Night for
Freedom" hosted by far-right social media personality Mike
Cernovich at the nightclub FREQ in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan. The
party was billed, in Cernovich's words, as a "gathering of
patriots and political dissidents who are bored with mainstream
political events", and included right-wing figures such as
Gavin McInnes, James O'Keefe, Lucian Wintrich, and Jack Posobiec.
According to The Washington Post, Manning's attendance infuriated the
far-left. "What followed," The Post reported, "was
an overheated Internet tug-of-war between opposite sides of the
political spectrum, each accusing the other of co-opting Manning,
while her intentions were relentlessly picked apart."
Manning afterward stated that she was acting as a double agent,
infiltrating the alt-right to gather information and insight about
alt-right rally plans.
After first getting in touch with Cassandra Fairbanks—an admirer
and writer for the right-wing website The Gateway Pundit—in
September 2017, Manning tapped into Fairbanks's close ties to D.C.
area alt-right media influencers. In December 2017, Manning
participated with Fairbanks, Posobiec, Wintrich, and others in Escape
the Room DC, and spent an evening drinking and playing Cards Against
Humanity at Wintrich's apartment with him, Fairbanks, and others. "I
viewed this as an opportunity to use the celebrity and fame I've
gotten since getting out of prison," Manning told The Daily
Beast in January 2018, "to gather information and to
ultimately find ways in which we who are against the alt-right can
undermine the alt-right." She added, "The thing in
all this that I've learned is that they don't actually believe the
things that they say. I just feel they're opportunists and that they
exploit their Twitter followers' fears." Manning
acknowledged, however, that these incidents left many of her own
supporters feeling betrayed. "People have every right to be
confused and hurt by this," she said. "Regardless of
good intentions, I leveraged my privilege to gain access to spaces
others couldn't dream of entering safely. I never meant to hurt my
supporters. No amount of information on the alt-right is worth losing
the trust of my supporters."
Tour of Australia and New Zealand
In August 2018, the Government of Australia refused to issue
Manning a visa to enter the country, where she was scheduled to make
a series of public appearances. The company arranging Manning's
speaking tour said it would appeal the decision, taken under s501(1)
of the Migration Act, which authorizes a minister to refuse a visa on
character grounds. The Department of Home Affairs specified that
Manning did not pass the character test because of her "substantial
criminal record". On September 2, Manning spoke as scheduled
at the Sydney Opera House except that she appeared onscreen live via
satellite from Los Angeles.
On August 31, Immigration New Zealand granted Manning special
direction to apply for a work visa to enter New Zealand, stating
there was "no reason to believe Ms Manning would not comply
with the terms and conditions of any visa issued". Due to
her previous convictions for espionage and other offenses, Manning is
subject to character provisions of the Immigration Act. Manning had
plans to tour Auckland and Wellington on September 8 and 9. Prime
Minister Jacinda Ardern defended the New Zealand Government's
decision to allow Manning entry, stating that "we are a
nation that allows free speech". By contrast, the
center-right National Party had called for Manning to be banned from
entering New Zealand on national security grounds due to her
espionage and computer fraud convictions.
Career as network security consultant
In August 2021, Forbes reported that Manning had been contracted
to conduct an information security audit with Nym, a
Switzerland-based for-profit cryptocurrency startup "to send
data anonymously around the Internet using the same blockchain
technology underlying Bitcoin." Nym's CEO said, "We'd
be happy to have her stay on after the audit in whatever form she
wants, but right now we need everyone laser-focused on securing our
code."
COVID-19
On September 14, 2021, Manning tested positive for COVID-19. She
reportedly exhibited mild symptoms and would be quarantining until
October 1, 2021. Manning, who had previously been vaccinated, issued
a statement that "vaccines work, masks work, testing works,
healthcare is a right, and we all need to support each other."