College Students Probed in Wikileaks Investigation

MIT, BU linked to suspect Bradley Manning
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 2, 2010 1:43 AM CDT
College Students Probed in Wikileaks Investigation
Screen grab from Wikileaks, which recently released some 92,000 secret documents about the Afghanistan War.   (AP Photo/Wikileaks.com)

Students at MIT and Boston University are being investigated as possible accomplices in the massive leak of military documents posted on the Wikileaks site, according to officials. The FBI was apparently sicced on the schools in part by blogger Adrian Lamo. He did not reveal the students' names because he said at least one of them threatened his life, reports CNN. The students told Lamo they gave encryption software to soldier Bradley Manning and taught the Army private how to use it to obtain the secret documents he's suspected of providing to Wikileaks, Lamo claims.

Lamo, who was working with a Wired reporter at the time, turned Manning into the feds after convincing the soldier to give him an interview. A "civilian" in the Boston area contacted by the New York Times said Army investigators quizzed him about his relationship with Manning, and offered him money to spy on Wikileaks. An MIT graduate told the Boston Globe he exchanged emails with Manning, but denied doing anything illegal. In a related development, Wikileaks editor Jacob Applebaum was detained and interrogated by customs officials and FBI agents over the weekend after he returned to the US from Europe, reports the Independent.
(More Bradley Manning stories.)

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