{mosads}“PFC Manning harmed our national security, violated the public’s trust, and now stands convicted of multiple serious crimes,” said Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and ranking member Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) in a joint statement Tuesday.
The Intelligence leaders did not make any mention of Manning’s acquittal on the most serious charge — aiding the enemy, which would have brought with it a life sentence.
The congressmen admitted there is more work to be done to ensure that a massive leak of hundreds of thousands of classified documents does not happen again, as it did in 2010 when Manning released secret diplomatic cables and battlefield reports.
“The House Intelligence Committee continues to work with the Intelligence Community to improve the security of classified information and to put in place better mechanisms to detect individuals who abuse their access to sensitive information,” they said.
In reaction to a separate leak of United States surveillance programs by Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency enacted a two-man rule earlier this month that would require two individuals to access any secure room that housed servers with classified information.