Manning’s Conviction Is Troubling in Many Ways

My piece for Medium this week on Bradley Manning’s conviction for committing espionage.

Lost in all of the heated debates about whistleblowing, classification, alleged war crimes, and espionage is the discomfiting realization that Bradley Manning took a shortcut — the easy way out. He tried to tear down a powerful system he felt was illegitimate. He committed crimes to expose what he felt was criminal misconduct. Manning is now learning what happens when you think law-breaking is immaterial to obeying the law. And that, too, is troubling.

Read the rest over at Medium.