In May 2010, Bradley E. Manning, a United States Army private, was arrested in Iraq for allegedly stealing thousands of classified government documents and sharing them with the website Wikileaks, a site that publishes private, secret and classified content from anonymous sources.
Prior to his arrest, Manning began communicating with Adrian Lamo, a well-known, former hacker who had been arrested for infiltrating the New York Times.
In their chats, Manning mentioned he had leaked sensitive documents, which included a huge collection of diplomatic cables.
According to Lamo, he believed Manning was a security risk and was concerned that if he didn't say something he could be party to a crime. Lamo met with members of the Army and the FBI and turned Manning in.
In an edition of Frontline, entitled "WikiSecrets," correspondent Martin Smith unravels the mysteries of Bradley Manning and reveals the hacker who blew the whistle.
Quotes
"Adrian was quite conflicted. We had a back-and-forth where he was concerned about whether or not this was the right thing to do, whether to betray this person's trust was appropriate, given his actions." -Tim Webster, former Army counterintelligence agent.
"There was no correct option. There was only the least incorrect one. Either way, I would have been screwing somebody over. I had to pick who. There was no option to just sit back and to wash my hands of the responsibility, because that, in and of itself, would have been making a choice." -Adrian Lamo, former hacker.
Warm Up Questions
1. What is a hacker?
2. What is a whistle-blower?
3. What is Wikileaks?
Discussion Questions
1. Do you think what Bradley Manning did was against the law? Why or why not?
2. If you were Adrian Lamo, what would you have done?
3. What did you learn from this story about information and government secrets?
Additional Resources
World Debates Ethics, Legality of Latest WikiLeaks Release
Leaked Military Documents Create Controversy Over Role of Press
Worldwide Reaction to WikiLeaks Document Drop
