You mean one Private First Class did all this????

reply to post by Becoming


Which would further suggest a conspiracy. Or at the very least, a coup. The very phrase you said, " the lack of organization " further makes it apparent that something is a muck! That there is no " backing " to the USG claims.

reply to post by Whereweheaded


I meant the organization in which the the documents have been leaked.

So far the documents haven't had one thing to do with the other, which leads me to think that he grabbed them at random.

I've also wondered how a PFC managed to get his hands on so many classified documents, working alone.

This has the makings of a major conspiracy, and I'm sure over the years the theories about this will come out.

I can't believe the military would make it that easy to access sensitive material, especially the items such as the "list of targets crucial to National Security" etc.

reply to post by HomeBrew


Is it possible, yeah I'll give you that, but very unlikely, especially when our countries espionage has always run aground. The very likely hood of a 20 year old kid coming across this type of information, unless it was handed to him and told to go to wikilieaks with it, just doesn't sound plausible.

Originally posted by Becoming
reply to post by Whereweheaded

 

I meant the organization in which the the documents have been leaked.

So far the documents haven't had one thing to do with the other, which leads me to think that he grabbed them at random.

Bingo.

This leads me to believe he was a cryptologist, or had access to a fellow cryptologists pc. There one would expect to see a lot of random files needing decryption/encryption, from and for all factions of any given base/ship. Again, this is assuming he is not a pawn which as of yet is speculation. I agree it's more logical to assume he was used.

reply to post by HomeBrew


Let me ask you this though, most people stand something to gain. That we know of, he gained nothing. Last I heard, he was never paid. So it's possible that this the makings of a conspiracy?

I've been trying to think how Manning managed to do this if he was unable to write a CD or use a USB device and I think I've come up with a easy way to get around it.

1) Put Lady Gaga CD into CD drive and simply right click on a song and click "Get Info."
2) From there you can edit the name, artist, album, and comments of the song.
3) Manning could have simply retyped the classified information into these sections over and over.
4) Then all he has to do is click ok.

The classified information is now saved inside an mp3's song tag, without rewritting a CD or copying material.

Originally posted by Whereweheaded
reply to post by HomeBrew

 

Let me ask you this though, most people stand something to gain. That we know of, he gained nothing. Last I heard, he was never paid. So it's possible that this the makings of a conspiracy?

edit on 7-12-2010 by Whereweheaded because: (no reason given)

I cant possibly begin to speculate as to a motive, at this point I just want to see if it be possible for him(and what we know of him) to have pulled it off. And I really think it's plausable albiet not simple nor logical.

Apparently 3'000'000 low grade employees had access to this information. It was a leak waiting to happen. The US didn't consider this info to need high security...they got caught with their pants down and from what I'm reading it has had a much bigger effect in the diplomatic arena than they could have imagined. Mainly, I believe it has curtailed the duplicity and wheeling and dealing of the Cabal...he, he! Decent diplomacy won't suffer, the Cabal will.

In the interests of full disclosure, I just discovered Manning was demoted only last month, though the incident that caused it, hitting another soldier, must have happened much further back. So this means he was an E-4 when he conspired to release his information. According to this article in the Washington Post he was good with computers. he also claims in tis article to being readied for an early discharge for attitude, but this is denied by the Army. It's worth saying that Manning, at a diminuitive 105 pounds, must have been seriously angry to strike someone else.

There was a question above about the ease of changing the settings of a computer. That's true, but what ought to happen is that a systems administrator in charge of the computer and network ought to have disabled these ports at an adminstrative level in software settings and NOT given the user administrator access. If he's just a user, he doesn't have access to the places necessary to activate such ports. The rules governing security sopecifically call out these ports (USB, CD, etc.) as being vulnerable, as stated in the first link on SIPRNET, which is a condensation oft the rules. I realize this may not have happened, which speaks to my point that someone other than Manning is responsible for not following the rules designed specifically to prevent this kind of breach.

To respond to another question, no way could Manning physically retype the cables. We're talking hundreds of thousands here. I'm thinking they were compressed into a zip file, then copied over in one pass to the CD, though I don't know that specifically. It's just that it is the fastest and most efficient way to do it--especially if you don't want to get caught. Same thing happened with Climategate. That file took a lot of work and planning to pull off.

Originally posted by Whereweheaded
reply to post by HomeBrew

 

Let me ask you this though, most people stand something to gain. That we know of, he gained nothing. Last I heard, he was never paid. So it's possible that this the makings of a conspiracy?

edit on 7-12-2010 by Whereweheaded because: (no reason given)

He is said to have been sickened by what he was seeing in the info he had access to.

second

reply to post by HomeBrew


I do realize that. From the information I know in regards to the protocol when I was in, the berth of the server he was digging into seems just too wide. The videos he pulled from them...sure. Then State Department wires?

Maybe it is because of the illogical nature of such an act occurring. You are correct, maybe it is possible. I just do not see it happening without some coaching and direction/leading.

I remember one night I was working and digging through the network drive. I was doing so because our media troops had movies tucked away. So I began a search for 'all movie files'. This promptly initiated account lock out and a phone call from a buddy that worked at the Network Control Center. Now again, this was just the open network.

Even if he was grabbing files at random, it triggers red flags. Multiple openings of files, copying of files, etc all are watched (mostly electronically and automatically watched).

My scenario I think what is, is this: He showed an affinity towards hacking (or some other skill). Possibly perused conspiracy forums or looked up alternative news sites. Looking for a way to get this information out, the Government finds this kid. Jaded, a bit beaten down from the military and begins to covertly lead him to the prize.

Not really plausible but it makes for good thought

Originally posted by ownbestenemy
reply to post by HomeBrew

 

I do realize that. From the information I know in regards to the protocol when I was in, the berth of the server he was digging into seems just too wide. The videos he pulled from them...sure. Then State Department wires?

Maybe it is because of the illogical nature of such an act occurring. You are correct, maybe it is possible. I just do not see it happening without some coaching and direction/leading.

I remember one night I was working and digging through the network drive. I was doing so because our media troops had movies tucked away. So I began a search for 'all movie files'. This promptly initiated account lock out and a phone call from a buddy that worked at the Network Control Center. Now again, this was just the open network.

Even if he was grabbing files at random, it triggers red flags. Multiple openings of files, copying of files, etc all are watched (mostly electronically and automatically watched).

My scenario I think what is, is this: He showed an affinity towards hacking (or some other skill). Possibly perused conspiracy forums or looked up alternative news sites. Looking for a way to get this information out, the Government finds this kid. Jaded, a bit beaten down from the military and begins to covertly lead him to the prize.

Not really plausible but it makes for good thought

I guess at this point, your guesstimate is as good as any. However, I really think it was more simple than people are making it out to be. I suspect he was inolved with filing/organizing files of varying degrees of a classified and non classified nature. And for whatever reason, he copied them to a removable media source and turned them over to WL. To assume that there were restrictions and/or network locks on the PC is speculation. I know for a FACT that not all computers in the forces are monitored to such a level, even those that contain low level classified materials. It could really come down to a disgruntal enlisted member copying/pasting, and walking out the door...

What i find unusual, is the fact that a pfc, had access to secret State Department cables.
The State Department has it's own communications staff, and therefore would not use military personel.
Manning would not have come into contact with these cables normaly.
Someone from the State Department passed these cables to him, why

I think somebody in authority wanted these cables released, possibly to try to gather support for the U.S.A and to embarress allies who are wavering in support.

reply to post by HEREFORD 1969


or to try and 'out' the people that don't have America's best interest in mind..

What if it was the Army and they just want America back from the Bankers?

Originally posted by HomeBrew
By the way, I served in the mid 90's and am sure security has clamped down since then. However, I assume most of the work is being done by low ranking enlisted, and as such, the plausability of this being done by one(or a small handful) still seems possible to me.

Assumptions up there...but then fact down there?

Originally posted by HomeBrew
I know for a FACT that not all computers in the forces are monitored to such a level, even those that contain low level classified materials.

Now I am confused. First you state you haven't been around military infosec since the mid 90s but then claim you know for a FACT otherwise.

Which is it? Either you know the most basic of infosec or you once knew of it...

Sorry one of my pet peeves is one who displays two different things. Nothing against you, just your claims now.

reply to post by schuyler


I am glad you brought this point up, as I have has this thought run across my mind more than once.
Especially whenever I hear that this guy is the "leaker"...

I know most people think that computer security is so lax in the military, etc.. etc..
However, I just don't see how this guy got all these clearances, and was able to copy all this stuff,
with his history and the way that the govie computers are designed for access...

He has to have a CAC card just to get into the computer system at all, first off. That is a card that ID's
him to the computer and allows him access to the networks, along with the clearances that he is afforded.
All military, active duty, have these little chips in their ID's. When they are "enabled", then the person is allowed
access. DOD employees have these in their civilian ID's too, but they must go to an ID center to get them enabled. Then one inserts their ID/CAC card into the computer for access. You really cannot get into the system without it.

Everything one does is then watched on the system.
Is this guy that good that he could hack into that kind of system on an installation without being noticed?
Even if he used someone else's CAC info, then that person would be implicated.

This is not mentioning the assumption of copying text information onto an already copyrighted and closed audio CD... I haven't been able to do that personally, however, I haven't tried in a while.

Originally posted by HomeBrew
I suspect he was inolved with filing/organizing files of varying degrees of a classified and non classified nature. And for whatever reason, he copied them to a removable media source and turned them over to WL. To assume that there were restrictions and/or network locks on the PC is speculation. I know for a FACT that not all computers in the forces are monitored to such a level, even those that contain low level classified materials. It could really come down to a disgruntal enlisted member copying/pasting, and walking out the door...

Well, it's not exactly speculation. It's following the protocol and the rules specifically designed for SIPRNET access. In the last installation with which I have personal knowledge, you could never have gotten away with this. This was NOT a SIPRNET site, but it did handle classified material. File activity from server to local PC would have spiked charts in a heartbeat. In my system we had this monitoring software that would show a spike in activity on a graph by MAC address. You could look up the MAC addrerss's IP and trace to the user. Usually the issue was an ethernet card going crazy and flooding the net with packets, but it was ALWAYS investigated.

Do you know for a fact that SIPRNET connected computers are normally insecure? I'm not actually contradicting you here. I think the answer would be instructive either way.

BTW I also agree with you that this guy was primed all by himself. He wasn't military material and he could have developed a quick aversion to guys who talked macho about girls and guns incessantly. Junior enlisted military life can really be hell if you're not willing to accept it.

reply to post by thegoodearth


The "Lady Gaga" Cd was blank; just had the sticker on it

reply to post by squirelnutz


Possibly, but would the military have any real influence over the State Department and manage to coerice it's emlpoyees.