So I've had another change of heart, and have decided that I will again try to follow and blog about the Bradley Manning trial. We'll see how that goes.
On Dec. 20th, 2011, Kim Zetter wrote for Wired on how ex-hacker Adrian Lamo testified against Bradley Manning. As general background, Manning confided in Lamo about the files he had downloaded off of the SIPRNet. Lamo contacted the authorities, and the chat logs ended up leading to Manning's arrest. Interestingly, Lamo told Manning during their online chat that he was "either a journalist or minister", and that Manning could treat the conversation as a privileged one that "will never be published." You can't help but laugh as you read that, then see it clearly displayed on Wired's web page. The article noted that Lamo's testimony followed that general story; on cross, Manning's attorney hammered Lamo about the nature of the "confidential disclosure."
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On Dec. 20th, 2011, Lily Kuo also reported for Reuters about the on-going Bradley Manning hearings. The article contained the same information concerning Lamo's testimony, but Manning's defense attorney's strategy caught my eye. The article mentions that Manning's attorneys are are trying to portray Manning as "an emotionally troubled young man whose behavioral problems should have promoted his superiors to revoke his access to classified information."
I picked up on the defense's strategy in reference to this blog post, which should just be below. Again, with humans being the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain, organizations have to know their people. Here, the US Army may not have fully known one of its people. The article mentions that Manning sent an e-mail to his sergeant regarding gender confusion, and how that was hurting his ability to work. If this is true, the military may have had notice of Manning's mental condition, and still left him in a position to access classified information. This shouldn't absolve Manning for what he did, but it does raise a question of whether the military should have revoked his access to classified information in the first place.
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Have more news on the trial, or just want to confess that you've hacked the SIPRNet? Tweet to @cyberlawblog
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