Harvard revokes Chelsea Manning fellowship invitation

WASHINGTON: A Harvard dean yesterday revoked an invitation for convicted US intelligence leaker Chelsea Manning to be a visiting fellow at the prestigious university following sharp criticism over the invite.

Manning, however, will still speak to Harvard students, but not be considered a visiting fellow, the dean of the Harvard Kennedy School said in a statement.

“I see more clearly now that many people view a Visiting Fellow title as an honorific,” Dean Douglas Elmendorf wrote.

“Therefore, we are withdrawing the invitation to her to serve as a Visiting Fellow – and the perceived honour that it implies to some people – while maintaining the invitation for her to spend a day at the Kennedy School and speak in the (School) Forum.”

CIA director Mike Pompeo pulled out of a Harvard forum and former acting director Mike Morrell quit the university Thursday to protest Manning’s appointment as a visiting fellow.

Pompeo, who was scheduled to speak late Thursday at the Kennedy School of Government, canceled at the last minute following news of Manning’s speaking engagement.

Labeling Manning an ‘American traitor,’ Pompeo said in a statement that his conscience would not allow him to ‘ betray the trust’ of the Central Intelligence Agency staff by appearing to support Harvard’s decision by joining the event.

“Ms Manning betrayed her country and was found guilty of 17 serious crimes for leaking classified information to Wikileaks,” he said in a statement. — AFP