Mental health key to Manning defense

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August 14, 2013
The Associated Press

... His brigade commander, Col. David Miller, testified the 2nd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division deployed in the fall of 2009 with 10 percent to 15 percent fewer intelligence analysts than the number authorized by the military. But Miller denied feeling any pressure to take soldiers who should not have deployed ... Maj. Clifford Clausen, who headed the brigade’s intelligence branch, said there was pressure to take every soldier ... Miller’s executive officer Lt. Col. Brian Kerns said he had concerns before deployment about Clausen’s leadership abilities ...

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0000455165

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1. Defense seeks to show Bradley Manning was emotionally unstable

By Richard A. Serrano
August 13, 2013, 10:15 a.m.

FT. MEADE, Md.—Several months before he started providing highly classified data to WikiLeaks, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning erupted violently against one of his superiors in Iraq, pounding his fists, flipping a table with government computers, and trying to grab a firearm from a weapons rack until he was forcibly restrained, an Army officer testified Tuesday ...

Defense lawyers say the incident is crucial to their effort to convince a military judge not to impose the maximum 90-year sentence on Manning, who was convicted in a court martial of espionage and other charges for the illegal disclosures. They are trying to show that the Oklahoma-born soldier was nearing an emotional breakdown over what he viewed as military atrocities and government lies in the two conflicts ...

Manning’s misconduct in Iraq was mentioned during his court martial. But Chief Warrant Officer Joshua Ehresman, who took the witness stand Tuesday morning, provided more details about the late-night outburst. Ehresman said another supervisor was counseling Manning about his behavior problems ...

Chief Warrant Officer Kyle Balonek, who followed Ehresman onto the stand, said he and other Army supervisors decided that Manning required counseling but did not need to be removed from the unit with an official derogatory report. A so-called derog report could have cost Manning his security clearance and prevented him from leaking classified material ...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-bradley-manning-defense-20130813,0,4923206.story

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2. Army ignored Manning’s deteriorating mental health, defense attorney says

By Julie Tate, Tuesday, August 13, 4:34 PM

... In April 2010, while serving as an Army intelligence analyst in Baghdad, Manning sent an e-mail to his superior, Master Sgt. Paul Adkins, to tell him that he was suffering from a gender identity disorder. Manning attached a photograph of himself wearing a blond wig and makeup.

“I have had signs of it for a very long time. It’s caused problems within my family,” wrote Manning in the e-mail with the subject line “My Problem,” which was released Tuesday for the first time. “I thought enlisting in the military would get rid of it. . . . I’ve been trying very, very hard to get rid of it. It’s haunting me more and more as I get older. Now the consequences are getting harder” ...

Adkins said he did not inform his superiors about the e-mail until after Manning had been arrested. “I really didn’t think at the time that having a picture floating around of one of my soldiers in drag as in the best interest of the intel mission,” Adkins told the court.

The month after he sent the e-mail, Manning was found in a fetal position in storeroom with a knife at his feet. Adkins testified Tuesday that he found Manning unresponsive but was able to get him to talk about how he felt “fragmented” ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/army-ignored-mannings-deteriorating-mental-health-defense-attorney-says/2013/08/13/56dd9e70-0451-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html

[Lee-Lee]

8. This is interesting for them to bring up

Because all the briefings I got during DATD were that it was against policy for something like this to be acted on.

During DADT seeing a service member cross dressing was NOT considered grounds to take any action. Nor was possession of gay porn by a male, going to a gay bar, or marching in a gay pride parade.

Essentially unless the Soldier flat out said "I am gay", was actually observed engaging in a homosexual act, or got married to a member of the same sex anything else was to be ignored and acting on it would be considered a violation of the Soldiers rights and DADT policy.

So for the defense to claim failing to act on it was a command failing is somewhat curious.


The rest, yeah, troubled kid for sure. But one of the glaring problems with DADT was that since some of the behavior was mixed in with behavior that could not be acted on under the policy it would make them more hesitant to act on the rest, lest they get accused of violating DADT.

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3. Bradley Manning supervisor 'ignored photo of soldier dressed as woman'

Amid tough questions from defence lawyers, Paul Adkins says he was worried photo would be shared around brigade
Paul Lewis at Fort Meade
Tuesday 13 August 2013 16.39 EDT

... The email, sent to master sergeant Paul Adkins on April 24 2010, had the subject line 'My Problem', and contained a photograph Manning had taken of himself in a wig and lipstick ...

The email came during a period in which, Adkins admits, he was becoming increasingly concerned by Manning's mental health.

In one memo written to psychologists at the time, Adkins said Manning's health was a "constant source of concern".

Adkin .. was demoted to the position of sergeant first class for his failings in the Manning case ...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/13/bradley-manning-email-drag-photo-sentencing

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4. Defense in U.S. WikiLeaks trial say Army ignored Manning's bizarre acts

Thomson Reuters
August 13, 2013 16:46
By Tom Ramstack

... Manning's violent outbursts and his emailing a supervisor a photo of himself in a dress and blond wig with the caption "This is my problem" were signs the gay soldier should not have a job as an intelligence analyst, defense attorney David Coombs told the court-martial ...

Adkins said his unit was short-staffed and needed Manning's analysis work.

"The biggest threat to our soldiers and our operational environment emerged from the Shia (Muslim) insurgent group, which PFC Manning helped to assess," said Adkins, who was demoted after the WikiLeaks release.

He said he believed Manning was being helped by mental therapy. "I wrongly assessed that he was stable enough to continue his shift," Adkins said ...

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/130813/defense-us-wikileaks-trial-says-army-ignored-mannings-bizarre-a

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5. Boss: Manning wasn't too mentally unstable to work

1 hour ago • Associated Press

... Adkins, the noncommissioned officer primarily responsible for discipline in the workplace, testified Manning's mental instability was "a constant source of concern." But instead of recommending suspension of Manning's security clearance, Adkins urged psychiatrists to give him more treatment so he could keep him working ...

He said "there was the indirect pressure of making sure everyone who could physically deploy was deploying." Adkins said another member of the unit was unable to deploy because of a recent heart attack, and he couldn't justify holding Manning back "especially with a non-physical health issue" ...

"I wasn't 100 percent sure of his stability and I wanted to send him a message that behavior like that, you know, was not acceptable," Adkins said ...

http://fremonttribune.com/news/national/boss-manning-wasn-t-too-mentally-unstable-to-work/article_b2394900-089d-5039-b14f-25125a5a322b.html

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6. Manning defense focuses on command failures

Associated Press
Story Created: Tue Aug 13, 2013 4:18 AM
Story Updated: Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:20 AM

... Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kyle Balonek testified about an incident in which Manning angrily flipped over a table and had to be restrained in December 2009. Balonek says it wasn't necessary serious enough to prompt a disciplinary report that could have led to revocation of his security clearance.

Balonek says such action is reserved for egregious misconduct ...

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/home/ticker/Manning-defense-pinpointing-command-failures-219379501.html

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7. U.S. WikiLeaks judge overrules objections on classified testimony

by FP Staff Aug 14, 2013

... Lind overruled three of five defense objections to classified information presented during court sessions that were closed to the public and media. The trial included regular discussions in closed sessions of classified information by the judge and attorneys for both sides.

The judge did not reveal the information but said it was proper “aggravation evidence” of the damage the releases to WikiLeaks, a pro-transparency website, did to U.S. foreign relations.

She upheld the other two objections, saying the information presented by military officials was speculative. She said she would not consider the speculative evidence in assessing a sentence ...

http://www.firstpost.com/world/u-s-wikileaks-judge-overrules-objections-on-classified-testimony-1031727.html