Expert says at least 117 published cables were classified

FORT MEADE, Md. — Army Pfc. Bradley Manning disclosed potentially damaging classified information in at least 117 of the more than 250,000 State Department cables he has acknowledged sending to WikiLeaks, according to evidence prosecutors presented at his court-martial Thursday.

The cables published on the website of the antisecrecy organization in late 2010 contained protected information about foreign governments; foreign relations; U.S. military activities; scientific, technological or economic matters; and vulnerabilities in America’s infrastructure, a State Department classification expert said.

Manning said in a courtroom statement in February that since the cables were labeled for wide distribution within the government, he believed that “the vast majority” of them were not classified, even though they were on a computer network reserved for classified material. He contends the cables revealed secret pacts and duplicity that, while possibly embarrassing, should be publicly exposed.

In written testimony read aloud by a prosecutor, classification expert Nicholas Murphy listed 96 cables that he said had been properly classified as “confidential” and 21 properly classified as “secret.” His testimony revealed for the first time the specific cables that are the basis for a federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act charge that is among 21 counts the former intelligence analyst faces.

Prosecutors began presenting testimony about the cables Wednesday when a former State Department official testified on cross-examination that the agency’s computer network would give anyone with Manning’s topsecret security clearance unrestricted access to the cables. The government alleges he stole them.

Earlier Thursday, the military judge ruled that Manning’s lawyers can offer evidence contradicting the government’s assertion that he revealed classified information in a leaked battlefield video from Iraq.

The judge, Army Col. Denise Lind, took judicial notice of the document, a preliminary step toward admitting evidence.

Manning, of Crescent, has acknowledged giving the video to WikiLeaks but denies that it revealed national defense information.

The most serious charge Manning faces is aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence.