Chelsea Manning has joined Twitter under the username @xychelsea. The government whistleblower, previously known as Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, is currently serving 35 years in prison for leaking government secrets to Wikileaks. As an intelligence analyst in Iraq, the soldier collected state secrets, releasing them to the open-information website.
Manning received more than 1,000 followers before publishing her first post.
The prison where Manning is being held does not allow the former soldier to access the Internet. Therefore, she must dictate posts to supporters, who post to Twitter in her place.
Support for Manning came from Glenn Greenwald, another major player in recent news stories on the release of government secrets. Greenwald was an American journalist working for the Guardian US when he wrote a number of stories detailing secrets obtained by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The journalist came under fire from federal officials who claimed he was putting American soldiers at risk.
"Welcome to Twitter, one of this generation's greatest heroes, Chelsea Manning @xychlesea," Greenwald wrote on the microblogging website.
A profile picture on Manning's Twitter account shows the ex-soldier as she pictures herself — with long hair. However, officials at the prison where she is being held prohibit her from growing her hair long.
In 2009, Manning was assigned as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, and began leaking information to Wikileaks in 2010. That year, she began to trust her secrets to an online acquaintance, Adrian Lamo, a computer hacker who broke into computer systems belonging to Yahoo!, the New York Times, and Microsoft. Lamo turned Manning over to Army Counterintelligence.
As Bradley Manning, the soldier was charged with 22 counts of various crimes, including aiding the enemy, which could have resulted in the death penalty. She was sentenced to 35 years in prison for her actions, and was dishonorably discharged from the Army. The day after sentencing, Manning released a public statement saying she had always believed she was a woman trapped in a man's body, and wished to be known as Chelsea.
Manning was originally held in de facto isolated confinement at the Marine Corps Brig in Quantico, Virginia. This raised a great deal of criticism within the United States, as well as from international observers. The whistleblower was then transferred to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, where she is able to be a part of the community of prisoners.
Greenwald is currently living in Brazil with his romantic partner, David Miranda, citing a fear of arrest and the Defense of Marriage Act as reasons for remaining outside the United States.
"Thank you all for your love and support. I hope you will continue to follow me in the future," Manning tweeted.
Photo: Quinn Dombrowski | Flickr
