‘Manning leaks had no impact on US war efforts’

The publication of hundreds of thousands of secret US documents leaked by soldier Chelsea Manning in 2010 had no strategic impact on the American war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, a newly released Pentagon analysis concluded. The belated publication of the analysis gives the lie to the official line maintained over several years that the leak had caused serious harm to US national security. It also puts into context the severe punishment that was meted out to the soldier – 35 years in military prison, the harshest sentence in history for an official leak.