Adrian Lamo’s decision to finger Bradley Manning as one of WikiLeaks’
most prolific sources of secrets may have led to the young Army
private’s arrest three years ago. But on Tuesday, Lamo provided
courtroom testimony that could draw an important legal distinction in
Manning’s motives: that Manning leaked his troves of classified
documents to WikiLeaks for what Lamo believed were “idealistic”
intentions, rather than a desire to aid America’s foreign enemies.
Responding to a series of questions from Manning’s attorney David
Coombs, Lamo confirmed that he believed Manning to be “ideologically
motivated,” “idealistic,” and “well-intentioned,” responding in the
affirmative to each of those descriptions as Coombs offered them. Over
several minutes, Lamo offered terse answers such as “yes” and “correct”
to dozens of questions describing Manning and Lamo’s instant message
chats in 2010, in which Manning confessed to Lamo that he had leaked
thousands of classified Pentagon and State Department to WikiLeaks. Lamo
later turned those chat logs over to Army investigators.
