Manning’s ‘mental instability’ ideally would have blocked deployment, but Army needed skills

FORT MEADE, Md. – U.S. soldier Bradley Manning’s violent outbursts and a photo of himself dressed as a woman ideally should have blocked him from working with classified information in Iraq, but the Army needed his skills, the soldier’s former boss testified Tuesday.

Retired Sgt. 1st Class Paul Adkins testified as a defence witness at the sentencing hearing for the former intelligence analyst convicted of disclosing reams of classified information through WikiLeaks. Manning faces up to 90 years in prison.

Adkins said in April 2010, Manning emailed him a picture of himself in a blonde wig and lipstick attached to a letter titled, “My problem,” which defence attorneys have characterized as a sign of the soldier’s gender-identity crisis at a time when homosexual soldiers couldn’t serve openly.

The emailed started: “This is my problem. I’ve had signs of it for a very long time. It’s caused problems within my family. I thought a career in the military would get rid of it. It’s not something I seek out for attention. And I’m trying very, very hard to get rid of it by placing myself in situations where it would be impossible. But it’s not going away.”

Adkins, who handled administrative duties for Manning’s workgroup, 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.

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Adkins didn’t’ reveal the email to his commanders until June 2010, after Manning had punched a female soldier in the face, got banned from the workplace and was arrested for leaking classified information.

Adkins and others have testified the unit deployed with a shortage of junior intelligence analysts, such as Manning, to help commanders understand the enemy’s tactics.

“In a perfect world, I think, if I could have left him behind, to make sure that he was getting behavioural health care on a consistent basis, I would have,” Adkins said.

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.”

In a series of memos to mental health workers, Adkins described Manning’s worrisome behaviours, starting with an angry outburst after he was scolded for missing a physical training formation in the summer of 2009, and another when he was disciplined for losing his room key.

In December 2009, about two months after deploying, Manning was scolded for tardiness and overturned a table and had to be restrained. Because he made a move toward a gun rack, Adkins removed the firing bolt from Manning’s rifle but allowed him to keep working.

“I wasn’t 100 per cent sure of his stability and I wanted to send him a message that behaviour like that, you know, was not acceptable,” Adkins said.

Adkins testified he was reprimanded and demoted for failures involving Manning.

Manning, a 25-year-old native of Crescent, Oklahoma, gave more than 700,000 documents and some battlefield video to WikiLeaks while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq. He was convicted July 30 of 20 counts, including six federal Espionage Act violations, five theft counts, and a federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act charge.

Manning says he leaked the material to expose wrongdoing and provoke discussion about U.S. military and diplomatic affairs.