After more than a year, Wired has now published the original chat logs of PFC Bradley Manning and Adrian Lamo, the former hacker who betrayed the young soldier, who has probably been the main source for WikiLeaks the previous year to the FBI. Wired had already published excerpts of the logs one year ago, altogether maybe 25%. According to editor-in-chief Evan Hansen, the remainder was considered too personal as regards Manning and possibly too sensitive military information.

What has now been published should be scrutinized in particular for whether it contains hints as regards Manning having been contacted and encouraged by WikiLeak’s Julian Assange to leak. There is no. Rather, Lamo misled Manning and reassured him several times that whatever he would confess he would not publish as he considers himself a “journalist and minister”.

(10:19:00 AM) bradass87: im kind of coming out of a cocoon… its going to take some time, but i hopefully wont be a ghost anymore

(10:19:53 AM) info@adrianlamo.com: You mentioned gender identity, I believe.

(10:19:59 AM) bradass87: ive had an unusual, and very stressful experience over the last decade or so

(10:20:53 AM) bradass87: yes… questioned my gender for several years… sexual orientation was easy to figure out… but i started to come to terms with it during the first few months of my deployment

(10:21:09 AM) info@adrianlamo.com: May I ask the particulars?

(10:21:34 AM) info@adrianlamo.com: I’m bi myself, and my ex is MTF.

(10:21:34 AM) bradass87: im fairly open… but careful, so yes..

(10:22:00 AM) bradass87: im aware of your bi part

(10:22:24 AM) bradass87: uhm, trying to keep a low profile for now though, just a warning

(10:23:34 AM) info@adrianlamo.com: I’m a journalist and a minister. You can pick either, and treat this as a confession or an interview (never to be published) & enjoy a modicum of legal protection.

(10:24:07 AM) bradass87: assange level?

(10:25:12 AM) bradass87: or are you socially engineering ;P

(10:25:51 AM) info@adrianlamo.com: You must not have done your research 😛

(10:25:57 AM) info@adrianlamo.com: I could have flipped for the FBI.

(10:26:05 AM) info@adrianlamo.com: Gotten a sweeter deal.

(10:26:10 AM) info@adrianlamo.com: Before they fucked up.

(10:26:14 AM) info@adrianlamo.com: And I got one anyway.

(10:26:14 AM) bradass87: indeed

(10:26:16 AM) info@adrianlamo.com: I held out.

(Emphasis added.)

Lamo, who betrayed Manning a few days later to the FBI, used classic spying tactics here. Leading the discussion to personal issues: Manning’s “coming out”; confessing that he has similar preferences, then reassuring Manning that everything will be kept confidentially (he’s calling himself even “a minister,” sort of a pastor); then even mentioning the FBI.

In another chat, Manning was bragging about his job aspirations, and that Assange had offered him a job at WikiLeaks.

(01:48:50 AM) bradass87: “SPC Manning’s persistence led to the disruption of “Former Special Groups” in the New Baghdad area. SPC Manning’s tracking of targets led to the identification of previously unknown enemy support zones. His analysis led to heavy targeting of insurgent leaders in the area that consistently disrupted their operations. SPC Manning’s dedication led to the detainment of Malik Fadil al-Ugayli, a Tier 2 level target within the Commando OE.’

(01:49:17 AM) bradass87: oh sent you that last night, nevermind

(01:49:59 AM) bradass87: im hoping i can get a decent job through connections

(01:50:48 AM) info@adrianlamo.com: what kind of work?

(01:50:59 AM) bradass87: >shrug<

(01:51:11 AM) bradass87: i’m good at so much

(01:51:34 AM) bradass87: proving it is the issue… ergo contacts

(01:51:36 AM) bradass87: im such a ghost

(01:53:36 AM) bradass87: graphics design, web development, intelligence analysis, mathematics, cryptography, economics, and both domestic and international politics

(01:53:48 AM) bradass87: dont really have a specialty; can roam

(01:54:47 AM) bradass87: if it involves thought, rather than menial action… i can probably do it

(02:06:07 AM) bradass87: im an east coaster… so i’ll probably roam up and down from Boston to DC for awhile… building connections

(02:07:34 AM) bradass87: im writing my resume already

(02:10:58 AM) bradass87: i need to build a portfolio

(02:11:17 AM) bradass87: so i might freelance for a few weeks

(02:19:39 AM) bradass87: assange offered me a position at wl… but im not interested right now… too much excess baggage

(02:20:19 AM) bradass87: its also a shoe-string op… cant make much of living doing that

(02:31:38 AM) bradass87: i dont know what to call myself

(Underlined parts had been published by Wired in June 2010.)

And Wired concealed, when publishing excerpts of the chat logs last year, what would have been rather revealing about Assanges relationship with Manning, which apparently doesn’t exist.

(02:52:47 PM) bradass87: state dept fucked itself… placed volumes and volumes of information in a single spot, with no security

(02:53:28 PM) info@adrianlamo.com: only the people you trust can fuck you – infowise ;>

(02:54:03 PM) bradass87: so anything published, and classified up to SECRET//NOFORN

(02:54:44 PM) info@adrianlamo.com: in all seriousness, would you shoot if MP’s showed up? ;>

(02:55:04 PM) bradass87: why would i need to?

(02:55:18 PM) info@adrianlamo.com: suicide by MP.

(02:55:34 PM) bradass87: :L

(02:55:39 PM) bradass87: do i seem unhinged?

(02:56:04 PM) info@adrianlamo.com: i mean, showed up – for you – if Julian were to slip up.

(02:56:46 PM) bradass87: he knows very little about me

(02:56:54 PM) bradass87: he takes source protection uber-seriously

(02:57:01 PM) bradass87: “lie to me” he says

(02:57:06 PM) info@adrianlamo.com: Really. Interesting.

(02:57:34 PM) bradass87: he wont work with you if you reveal too much about yourself

That’s it. Most of the rest is chat of two gay youths which you don’t want to further comment on. So, as Glenn Greenwald noted yesterday, the real purpose of not publishing most of the chat in June 2010 might have been the  protection of ex-hacker Adrian Lamo, who had dishonestly wormed his way into Manning’s confidence using spying tactics. There was no sensitive military information, but a lot of irrelevant personal stuff.

But that will be used, I am afraid, in further discrediting Manning’s more noble intentions.

Last modification July 15, 2011.