Manning Hearing Moves Into ‘Secret’ Sessions

Almanza: Protecting Classified Info Outweighs Open Proceeding

by Jason Ditz, December 19, 2011

With the prosecution pushing to introduce “secret” evidence against Pfc. Bradley Manning, the presiding officer in his preliminary hearing has moved the session behind closed doors, insisting that “protecting classified information is an overriding interest that outweighs the value of an open proceeding.”

The decision removed the public and press from the courtroom, though the Army did say that certain “other government agencies” which they did not identify would be allowed to remain and follow the hearing.

Investigators claim that they found mentions of Julian Assange’s name of Manning’s personal computer, as well as a mention to the nation of Iceland, both of which seemed “out of place” and they say proves that he was the source of the massive dump of classified documents to WikiLeaks.

Army officials say that Manning used his login name as his password on the computer, and that they “got kind of lucky” in breaking into the encrypted files to find the evidence. Details of what was uncovered in the secret hearings are unknown.

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