So, Bradley Manning's excuse for betraying Our Nation is he's gay:
"The defense revealed that Manning had written to one of his supervisors in Baghdad before his arrest, saying he was suffering from gender-identity disorder. He included a picture of himself dressed as a woman and talked about how it was affecting his ability to do his job and even think clearly."1
In 1992, he would have been asked by recruiters prior to enlistment if he were or ever had been homosexual. He would have been asked by Security Clearance investigators the same question. It would have disqualified him for a clearance and entry into the military.
In 2002, he would not have been asked, but had he told, he would have been removed from the military. In 2009 & 2010, when he told that he was homosexual, he was supposed to have been removed from the military. The picture above comes from Manning's FB page and was posted prior to his arrest. His defense for his crimes is that his homosexuality drove him to commit espionage. His spymaster's (Julian Assange) defense against sexual assault charges is that his homosexuality prevents him from having (wanted to have) assaulted those women.
Manning's defense specifically asked the investigators if they had looked for the gay defense evidence.
"We already knew before we arrived that Pfc. Manning was a homosexual," Special Agent Toni Graham said.
During the Cold War, homosexuality was considered a particular risk for recruitment as a spy for the enemy. The Soviets specifically targeted homosexuals for recruitment. Child molestation was and is a tool in that recruitment strategy. Sexual deviancy is something that the perpetuator attempts to hide and therefore is something that can be used as a recruitment tool.
To be intellectually honest, they also used beautiful women to recruit heterosexual men. It was through that means that they blackmailed US Marines in Moscow to allow listening devices to be placed in the new Embassy there. Sexual desires, and actions, were used to great effect for compromising the potential spy, whether it was simple marital infidelity, homosexuality, or some great deviancy.
Blackmail is a primary means of recruitment in espionage. For blackmail to be effective, it must have two components: the target must have something they are hiding from the world, and he must want it hidden enough to be willing to give up something of value to the blackmailer to keep it hidden. Since, Manning was not hiding his homosexuality, it wasn't blackmail of it that caused his recruitment.
The Soviets, who were some of the most effective of spy recruiters, had 4 components to their recruiting strategy: Money, Ideology, Compromise, and Ego3. They attempted to move a spy into all arenas of that, regardless of which one they used to initially recruit him.
In the case of Manning, he was most likely recruited by means of Ideology. Based on what has been published it would appear to me that he joined the military with the specific goal of undermining the Military & US Government. It appears that Manning had anti-capitalist, anti-Iraq War, and pro-LGBT ideologies, all of which would have been effective means of recruitment to his espionage. It comes as little surprise that the "Occupy" movement has shown up in his protest support, or that the LGBT movement has, or that Code Pink has.
The ideological component is speculation on my part, but given his current defense, he could also have been recruited using the Ego component. It appears Manning suffers from a deflated ego, which Assange or others could build up, in order to convince him to betray his Nation.
This Ego component would be the opposite of how the Communists (Soviets) recruited Kim Philby2, whose hyper-inflated Ego was used as a source of recruitment, along with his ideology.
It would appear that Manning would be classified as a "walk-in" under the old Communist system. The KGB/GRU would have had the least trust in someone that recruited themselves, and generally underpaid for the information they gained from him. They would have attempted to double-down on the component that recruited the individual.
So, using the Soviet model of espionage, Assange would have puffed up Manning's sense of self-worth. They would have told him how important he was, and how important it was for his espionage to continue. They would have immediately started paying him, even if only a token amount. While I have seen no evidence that Assange transferred any money to Manning, I don't think it can be ruled out. The money trail may have instead have been sent to a relative or favored cause of Manning's. The "Servicemembers Legal Defense" group, a gay rights activist organization, might be a place to look, or the bank accounts of Manning's close relatives.
The component of Compromise would have been in effect at the moment that the first classified file was transferred to Assange. From that point on, Assange could have used it to blackmail Manning into giving more information. The KGB would have attempted to build on all components used to keep the information flowing. They would have wanted someone addicted to the Money, addicted to the stroking of Ego, perpetually Compromised, and more and more convinced of his Ideology.
There is no indication that I've seen that Manning was involved in child molestation, but such an activity would have been a prime means of ensuring the maintenance of a spy in the KGB model. When the Soviets learned of sexual deviancy, they ensured it was fed. They blackmailed their own into such activities, to prostitute themselves for the KGB. Under the KGB model, had they found a child molestor spy, they would have arranged the encounters, and filmed them for use in the Compromise component.
Political Correctness produced Bradley Manning, just as it allowed Nidal Hassan to continue towards his terrorist attacks. Political Correctness has no place in the military. I don't care what two consenting adults do behind closed doors, but the Military has open showers and open bay barracks/tents, not closed doors.
1Associated Press, December 18, 2011, David Dishneau & Pauline Jelinek
2Kim Philby was the ringleader of a spy-ring that rose to the top ranks of British Intelligence. He was raised in an upper income family and was recruited to Communism while studying at Oxford. Upon defection to the Soviet Union, he demanded to be awarded the rank of Colonel and was disappointed to learn that the Soviets did not trust his loyalty.
3KGB: The Inside Storyof Its Foreign Operations from Lenin to Gorbachev, 1992, Christopher Andrew & Oleg Gordievsky
Stumble It!
