Whistleblower Blasts Wikileaks: ‘Irresponsible’ to Publish Intelligence, Says It Enlisted Soldier as ‘Personal Shopper’ for Secrets
EmailThe former hacker who turned in the soldier suspected of handing military secrets to Wikileaks had some harsh words for the organization on "GMA" this morning.
“Wikileaks has acted in a tremendously irresponsible fashion and…they took advantage of systems that were put into place for the purpose of intelligence sharing, for the purpose of making sure that all elements of national security both at home and abroad had access to the information they needed in order to do their job,” Adrian Lamo said.
Private Bradley Manning, under suspicion since May for leaking other intelligence, had previously contacted Lamo apparently telling Lamo that he gave a significant amount of classified information to Wikileaks.
Lamo said he turned Manning over to the Pentagon in an effort to keep the reports from becoming public. But considering the sheer volume of information that came to light yesterday, Lamo says Manning could not have acted alone.
“I do not believe that private manning had the technical expertise necessary to communicate this amount information to the outside world without being detected on his own,” he said. “And I don’t believe he operated without guidance, rather I think it’s more likely that he was a personal shopper for classified data for the Wikileaks apparatus.”
Lamo echoed the Obama administration’s claims that the leaked information could harm national security and put lives at risk.
“It has harmed what is most important to our intelligence community and that is our ability to trust the people we put out there to do critical and sensitive jobs,” Lamo told me.
“It’s almost inconceivable to me that this could not result in harm to both security and actual real life people because it is easy to hear ‘national security’ and think that it is a…buzz word but at the end of the day it is about people,” Lamo said.
New York Times reporter Eric Schmitt, who had early access to the reports via Wikileaks, insists the paper removed any sensitive information that could have jeopardized operations.
“We worked very closely in this case with the White House and in fact the white house praised us for our efforts and due diligence going through this” he told me on “GMA.”
The intelligence reports fills in missing details of the war in Afghanistan, from previously undisclosed heat-seeking missiles to perhaps the most significant allegation that Pakistan’s intelligence agency –supposedly an American ally — is actually working against the United States.
“I think the most striking revelation here is even more detail about the complicity, the apparent complicity of the Pakistani spy service, the ISI, with militant groups including the Afghan Taliban, that are coordinating attacks inside American and coalition forces,” Schmitt said.
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at least somebody is doing news reporting unlike the mainstream media
Posted by: Alex | July 26, 2010, 9:33 am 9:33 am
I agree with Alex. Shame on you ABC! Why don’t you go write a story about Brangelina or something more up your alley.
Posted by: Paul | July 26, 2010, 9:44 am 9:44 am
First Kudos to Pvt. Manning!
Wikileaks, and anyone brave enough to blow the wistle on our corupt and dishonest government, are not a dangerous threat to Americans. Quite the contrary…It is our own government that is a grave an eminent danger to all Americans by their deceitful manipulation of the American people in order to first invade Iraq, then Afgahnistan,where the collateral damage is that of thousand of innocent lives; and unless more people like: Kathrine Gun, Private Manning, Scott Ritter, Daniel Ellsberg,Julian Assange, make efforts to expose the U.S. Governments illegal agenda, we will end up in a war with Iran.
Again Kudos to pvt. Manning, you are a true patriot and an American hero.
Posted by: Machine | July 26, 2010, 10:57 am 10:57 am
On the grave side of things. I do believe that the government should take down wikileaks and hold it in a military prison for being an enemy of the state and destroying national security. The information that was leaked and the soldier should have been protected, and wikileaks should be facing charges of treason.
Posted by: William | July 26, 2010, 11:02 am 11:02 am
That’s right, Machine. We should have taken care of the main threat: Pakistan and Afghanistan. We should have liberated these two countries and given it back to Ghandi. So,its even more pitiful that a private and a media group under the aegis of helping our country, placed many security risks and soldiers in harms way for their own benefit and glory. That is truly sad. Media should stay out of the war and away from the combat lines. Media should allow the armed forces to do what it needs to do in the name of national security. Instead, Manning and Wikileaks disgraced what every soldier in Iraq died for. Again, its truly pitiful.
Posted by: William | July 26, 2010, 11:16 am 11:16 am
Machine needs to get their facts straight. We liberated Afghanistan first. It just goes to show how little people pay attention.
Posted by: Thomas | July 26, 2010, 11:23 am 11:23 am
There is a a special place in hell for cowards and traitors, and Mr Lamo certainly qualifies as both.
Kudos to Julian Assange, and kudos to Wikileaks, the press, and various other organizations for doing their job and holding world governments accountable for their actions.
The world needs more of such men and women.
Posted by: Jim | July 26, 2010, 11:33 am 11:33 am
Lamo–a bitter irony there, no–has no business being interviewed, and ABC should be ashamed of itself for allowing him on the air. Did you guys even do a basic background search on this guy???
@Machine — that’s the beauty of WikiLeaks: no state to be an enemy of! Oh, to be a new organization without a country of one’s own…
Posted by: BCH | July 26, 2010, 11:34 am 11:34 am
The headline is misleading. Lamo is an informant, not a whistleblower.
Posted by: s | July 26, 2010, 11:41 am 11:41 am
Lamo has no credability whatsoever. Why would ABC give him and type of voice? He is a publicity hound with a pathological need for attention, nothing more. Shame on you steph for not researching his background before interviewing him.
Posted by: Bender Rodríguez | July 26, 2010, 11:57 am 11:57 am
Who cares what Adrian Lamo thinks about the justification? Autistism sufferers have a poor moral compass, that’s part of the diagnosis in the DSM. Lamo was hospitalized for Asperger’s just a few months ago.
Posted by: Del | July 26, 2010, 12:21 pm 12:21 pm
“Lives of Americans at stake”? This is what every administration says in order to protect itself from political fallout. It’s to save their jobs, not the lives of American troops. Understanding of civilian casualties could stoke anger in the Arab world, but the bottom line is that it will NOT directly endanger American soldiers. This contrived reliance on “national security” is simply political censorship, and Stephanopoulous is complicit by buying into it. Lamo was the traitor to his country, and Manning was the true patriot. Not the other way around.
Posted by: Max | July 26, 2010, 12:28 pm 12:28 pm
This is the “Pentagon Papers” of this war… This man did his country proud and we all should stand by him.
Useless policies that maim and kill Americans and civilians should be exposed for what they are. This is not a “good war”, this is another Vietnam and should be treated as such.
Posted by: CBA | July 26, 2010, 12:32 pm 12:32 pm
First of all, there is corruption in every government and has been for years. The corruption that has escalated in our government over the past several years is mind boggling. The fact that we ended up in Iraq to begin with was shear deceit and corruptive persuasivness on our government’s (G.W.Bush Administration)part. We have not even come close to completing the objective of liberating Iraq and Afganistan and purging the insurgents from these areas. We never will either. Taliban, insurgents will always be able to recruit for their terrorist purposes. After all, if you were a civillian in either country and struggling to make a living for your family and a Taliban or insurgent recruiter approached you promising that your family would be provided for and looked after if you join the Taliban fight…what would you do? Hard decission? That is what many civillian’s of Iraq & Afgahnistan are faced with.
Every war of the past has top secret files that the media would have a “hay day” with and civillians would find outrageous. This war is no different. Any top secret file that is leaked during an ongoing conflict can be very detrimental to the security of our troops and country. The American people do deserve the truth but at the appropriate time.
I have been told by many U.S. soldiers that have served several tours in the “sandbox” that the Iraqi and Afgahnistani people have little hope of the Americans ever making any ground on the Taliban & insurgents because of the surpressed living conditions in the two countries and the recruiting tactics of the Taliban and insurgents. Also, because there is too much corruption within the governments of these regions.
The scarey part of all this is…just how corrupt is the Obama administration? Are we going to end up in Iran? How about North Korea? It is a hard decission to make but honestly I am leaning more towards backing our bags and planes and bring our troops how from the “sandbox”. I honor every military member whom has given their life and all who continue to serve…many would scream that if we bring our troops home now then those who have died, died in vain. I disagree completely. Our troops are suffering terribly now when they do come home from PTSD with little to no help (there is a lot that the average civillian does not know about this aspect of the war).
Folks, just another point to remember is that we are not the only country out there with top secret war/conflict files. We (U.S.), however, are scrutinized the hardest whenever something of this nature arises. something
Posted by: RetMilitary | July 26, 2010, 12:41 pm 12:41 pm
Have you seen the documents? They aren’t all obscene horrid acts committed by the U.S. government/military. They are reports and actions committed on a daily basis that detail every day actions the government is doing in Afghanistan. How does publishing 90,000 documents where about 80,000 show nothing in terms of military abuse. Where is the “Whistle-blowing” there? What is the point? It is only an attack against the U.S. and her people’s military. Why do we need to know exactly how our military operates unless we want them to die at the hands of our enemies?
Posted by: Jim | July 26, 2010, 12:44 pm 12:44 pm
Its a WIKI. You cannot get mad at Wiki for publishing these, users of the site do. To condemn wikilinks is to condemn the democratic flow of information and the right to free speech. I have not seen the actual leak, but exposing and bringing clarity and increased accuracy to figures like civilian casualties is something that we should embrace and encourage.
Posted by: Dan | July 26, 2010, 1:02 pm 1:02 pm
The caption for the video states “Leaked Docs Expose Grim Afghan War” It is just like the mainstream media to point out the obvious.
Posted by: Bobby | July 26, 2010, 1:02 pm 1:02 pm
What they obviously didn’t take into account is that by publishing all of this on the internet, everybody can see it. Yes, it can be a good thing for the American people, but any extremist with an internet connection can see it too. Someone before me said that of the 90,000 documents, around 80,000 were normal, everyday acts. This in my opinion is more dangerous than the rest because they show anyone who looks at them how our military operates exposing both strengths and weaknesses- none of which is good. A little foresight on the part of Wikileaks would have been nice.
Posted by: Me | July 26, 2010, 1:05 pm 1:05 pm
Mr. Lamo has no business making claims that PFC Manning was being guided by Wikileaks. He has no business making claims that they acted irresponsibly. Mr. Lamo is not a military expert, nor is he an intelligence expert, nor is he privy to the inner-workings of Wikileaks. All of his comments are blatant speculation and should be treated as such. The fact that he keeps whoring himself out to any news outlet that will listen to him is reason enough to view his comments with incredulity and skepticism. He has been the sole source of information regarding the whole Manning/Wikileaks situation and so far it has only been self-serving, over-patriotic blather. The media needs to stop giving Mr. Lamo a soapbox for his opinions and start doing their own reporting of the facts.
Posted by: Abe | July 26, 2010, 1:05 pm 1:05 pm
Is America a secret national security state where the military, police, or any other government official can do however he (or she) dam well pleases in the name of national security? Or does the American public has a right to know what those people are up to?
It is every American’s patriotic duty to unveil any and every state secret. Secrecy is only justified by those who seek to abuse power.
Posted by: Urs | July 26, 2010, 1:18 pm 1:18 pm
George, love your analogy about terrorism, you said: if you omit the Ft. Hood shooting, the attempted NYC and the attempted X-mas day airplane bombing there was none. Did you come up with that all by yourself?????? That would be the same as if we said if you omit 9/11 there has been no terrorist attack on the US.
Posted by: Lizzie | July 26, 2010, 1:37 pm 1:37 pm
Leaks? Or treason. Arrested? What ever happened to being hung for treason?
Private Manning, soldier? Or Traitor. What ever happened to hanging traitors?
Manning might not have technical expertise to pull it off. Manning could not be working alone.
All of his communications should be checked. Everyone he spoke with, communicated with over communications or in person. No matter where it leads.
Posted by: job.outsourced | July 26, 2010, 1:57 pm 1:57 pm
@Lizzie — “Leaks? Or treason. Arrested? What ever happened to being hung for treason?” I believe that went out of style with hanging escaped slaves.
“Private Manning, soldier? Or Traitor. What ever happened to hanging traitors?” Many people consider Manning a true patriot – he risked his life to expose government wrongdoings. The people who knew this was happening and looked the other way are the real traitors.
“Manning might not have technical expertise to pull it off. Manning could not be working alone.” Blatant speculation. Do you know Manning? Are you intimately familiar with military networks and what it would take to access the info he accessed? I’ve heard more than a few reports from people who actually know what they’re talking about that suggests the military is very lax in their network security and that huge holes exist that anyone with even minimal experience with computers can take advantage of. I would suggest that people refrain from making statements about subjects they know nothing about.
Posted by: Abe | July 26, 2010, 2:15 pm 2:15 pm
Sorry Lizzie, that should’ve been directed at @job.outsourced.
Posted by: Abe | July 26, 2010, 2:16 pm 2:16 pm
The MAJOR news out of these leaks is the fact that all news organizations in the US are not news outlets at all. They are all liars/corrupted/stupid and keep the real news out of print and broadcast. In other words the 4th Estate is a total SHAM. The vast public had some idea of this but with these revelations now it is clearly confirmed.
Posted by: mmmoke | July 26, 2010, 2:44 pm 2:44 pm
we liberated Afganistan? hahahhahaha
Posted by: LouieD | July 26, 2010, 3:05 pm 3:05 pm
To mmmoke:
Wow, if you hate the US news organization so much, why are you reading the blog by ABC News? And I wonder where do you get all your news from, your own network?
Posted by: silk | July 26, 2010, 3:07 pm 3:07 pm
To Abe:
Don’t throw rock while you live in a glass house. Do you personally know Manning and his motives of leaking these documents? And what makes you so sure that those people told you about the military is completely correct and without any personal agenda?
And we all refrain from making statements on subjects we don’t know about, then we might as well live in a cave! Because we are not allowed to comment on anything unless we know about the subjects. We should know everything that ever happened in this world.
Posted by: silk | July 26, 2010, 3:12 pm 3:12 pm
We need to block these sites, just like China blocks info on Tianamen Sq!!
Posted by: Varun | July 26, 2010, 5:04 pm 5:04 pm
Yes, indeed, Wikileaks deserves thanks rather than negative criticisms and perhaps legal repercussions for revealing the truth. This whole “mess” by the government sounds more and more like the very bad days of the Viet Name War. It was individuals and groups like Wikileaks that finally forced a response to the “wrongness” of that war and ultimately and leaving. Having lost a brother to that war, I cry every time I hear about another senseless loss of life in our current “war(s).”
Posted by: jay | July 26, 2010, 6:56 pm 6:56 pm
I’m keeping this short. Those who read this and understand will know what I mean. (Very easy to tell who reads these blogs). I’ve been a soldier before. I’ve read my history too. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are not wars. Sure, there are soldiers there and they fight. Hear this: Because the U.S. is not fighting a war, it will never win. One cannot win a war unless one fights one. No, there will be no clear win or lose in either country, even if the U.S. declares victory. You want a war? Think the Mongols, think the Huns, and think the Vikings. Think also WW-II and Allied bombing of German cities, the unconditional surrender of Germany. That’s how you fight a war, not this mamby-pamby coddling crap. If I were in charge of the war, it would last all of six months. That’s it.
Posted by: BinArownD | July 26, 2010, 8:12 pm 8:12 pm
To put things in perspective, which is more damaging, a swinging Russian single trolling for random info from men on the street or a PFC who releases 91,000 classified documents? If he had given the info to the Chinese it would be called espionage but, since he gave it to the media, it’s just embarrassing.
Posted by: jrjstone | July 26, 2010, 11:23 pm 11:23 pm
If PVT. Bradley did not leak this information… then he woul dhave been an accomplice to the crime.
– he obviously could not give the information to the military, because they were the criminals.
So– in a court of REAL LAW… how is it justified that he was punished?
When all he did was observe a crime..and report it to people that he felt would try to serve justice against the crime.
Like i saw.. if he didn’t do what he did.. and then.. it later surfaced.. he would also be charged.. because he would have been an accomplice.
Army intelligence analyst Pvt. Bradley Manning — who was charged in July with passing confidential information to WikiLeaks
The 22-year-old was arrested in May
for giving the site a military video of
an attack on unarmed men in Iraq.
the government made the laws.. so they shoul dhave to obey them above and beyond anyone else.
it was their idea in the first place.
This kid is guilty of nothing.
Confidential information.
So.. i am guessing Chalie Manson would say that everything he did was confidential as well.
And don;t ask Jeffery Dolmer what he did, because it is confidential.
In Fact,, don’t ask any criminal what they did last night, because it is confidential information.
–and just so the leader won;t get in trouble.. let’s call it a covert opperation.
– seriously.. we are not stupid.
Posted by: Lucas | July 27, 2010, 8:31 am 8:31 am
George & GMA you missed out on a great opportunity to do a REAL story. there is so much at stake here and i’m sure your hands are tied seeing as though you’re American media but geez, other countries, NGOs and shady folks in general have been outed by wikileaks and you miss THEIR stuff as well. y’all suck. do better.
george, i expect better…
Posted by: sabir | July 27, 2010, 9:24 am 9:24 am
What form should the government of the government take?
Posted by: Dredd | July 27, 2010, 9:28 am 9:28 am
The wikileaks is just the start of cover up information. The Bushes started cover up when Big George started dessert storm and he needed little Georgy to complete it. Well little Geoegy couldn’t finish the job. Now poor Obama has a messy on his hands. Our son was part of a cover up at Fort Bragg. No matter what I did I still can’t find out what happen to our son. The secert service even came after me. The bushes covered up so much I surprise anyone can find anything so soon. It’s about time some one spoke out now maybe we all can start speaking out, hopefully without the secert service coming after them. This is not a free country and Obama has nothing to do with that. He just trying to clean up after the bushes.
Posted by: joan pesta | July 27, 2010, 10:32 am 10:32 am
Our choices are limited and the leaked papers don’t alter them one way or the other. The opportunity to use diplomacy to defuse hatred and animosity seems to have slipped away. You can thank George Bush for providing the Arab world with a couple million reasons to hate the US and for not providing any place to go for those in the middle except to the extremes. So, diplomacy ain’t gonna work now.
We can destroy Afghanistan and kill everyone there. Then we become a pariah nation and would probably collapse internally.
We can pull out. Then, we leave more radicals with a training country to export terrorists around the world, supported with funding by the West’s use of heroin. A pullout also gives everybody else around the world, such as North Korea (Thanks again, G Bush), a big green light.
We can colonize Afghanistan. Good old, iron-fisted, no democracy, we’re here to steal your minerals and your women colonialism. Send all of the unemployed to Afghanistan with a promise of land if they can maintain it and defend it. Make American colonialists super-citizens and suppress Afghan culture. Brutal repression. That’s how Saddam ruled Iraq. Worked for him. In fact, this works for lots of dictatorships. This democracy thing is overrated, costly and messy. Iron fist or go home.
Posted by: DecentDiscourse | July 27, 2010, 11:35 am 11:35 am
What Mr. Lamos thinks has no relevance to this story. Surely you could have found someone with something to say on the subject.
Posted by: William | July 27, 2010, 6:08 pm 6:08 pm
Machine, do you also think Jane Fonda is a patriot, for aiding and abetting the enemy in time of war???????
Posted by: Lizzie | July 28, 2010, 11:47 am 11:47 am
if you have children or relatives in the military, the leaks are condemned. no children or relatives in the military = praise. I, for one, do not want my childs or any other childs actions known to the enemy.
the leaks are treasonous. manning is a traitor to his country. we are at war. traitors are executed during war.
what will manning get? honorable discharge from the military. then a lucrative deal from the movie industry. he’ll get a book deal. and he’ll write an auto-biography.
meanwhile, the soldiers that he betrayed will get a burial.
Posted by: j | August 12, 2010, 8:54 am 8:54 am
America, Love it or leave it
Maybe wikileaks should have waited until this whole thing blows up before posting those documents. Pvt. Manning is definitely a TRAITOR and should be regarded as one, not a hero.
For all I know Mr.Assange might be getting kickbacks from the Terrorists for posting those sensitive information to discredit our government… and in my eyes that makes him a terrorist too!
After all this is said and done, what is happening might provoke governments to censor things on the internet… THANKS A LOT MR.ASSANGE
Posted by: aasdff | August 14, 2010, 10:47 pm 10:47 pm