Harvard pulls back on title for convicted leaker

Harvard University reversed its decision to name Chelsea Manning a visiting fellow early Friday, a day after CIA Director Mike Pompeo scrapped a planned appearance over the title for the soldier who was convicted of leaking classified information.

Douglas Elmendorf, the dean of the university’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, wrote on the university’s website that naming Manning a visiting fellow was a mistake, even though he said the title carries no special honor.

“We invited Chelsea Manning to spend a day at the Kennedy School,” he wrote. “On that basis, we also named Chelsea Manning a Visiting Fellow. We did not intend to honor her in any way or to endorse any of her words or deeds, as we do not honor or endorse any Fellow.”

Manning is still invited to spend a day at the school and speak to students, without the title, he wrote. It wasn’t clear whether that invitation would be accepted.

But on Twitter early Friday, Manning did respond to Harvard’s action, writing that she was “honored to be 1st disinvited trans woman visiting @harvard fellow.”

“They chill marginalized voices under @cia pressure,” she said.

Elmendorf delivered the news and an apology in a phone call with Manning hours after the canceled Pompeo event, according to Manning’s team.

Manning, 29, is a transgender woman who was known as Bradley Manning when she was convicted in 2013 of leaking classified documents. She was released from a military prison in May after serving seven years of a 35-year sentence, which was commuted by President Barack Obama.

After Pompeo’s no-show Thursday, the CIA released a letter in which Pompeo, who has a law degree from Harvard, said that his appearance had nothing to do with Manning’s gender identity.

“It has everything to do with her identity as a traitor to the United States of America and my loyalty to the officers of the CIA,” Pompeo said.

Earlier Thursday, Mike Morell, a former acting director of the CIA, resigned as a senior fellow at the Kennedy School over the Manning invitation.