Despite Death Threats, Adrian Lamo Maintains Resolve to Testify in Wikileaks / Bradley Manning Case If Needed

Online, June 28, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Adrian Lamo will be available to testify in the Bradley Manning case despite a recent uptick in death threats and questionable leaks, the ex-hacker announced today.

Citing a surge in the number of personal threats against him, Lamo was advised by some to simply disappear.

"I made a promise to see this thing through, and I intend to do exactly that," Lamo said in regards to the Manning case.

"It is my sincere hope that he is charged expeditiously and accepts a plea deal which is proportionate with his actions. It'd be best for him, best for everyone," Lamo added.

PFC. Bradley Manning was arrested after disclosing to Lamo that he had mishandled classified information, passing it to a foreign national in charge of Internet site "Wikileaks".

Lamo continued to call for the resignation of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, citing Assange's loss of moral authority to lead after Lamo was identified as the source of incriminating Manning-related logs submitted to Wikileaks - a seemingly agenda-driven breach of the site's policy of anonymity.

"There is a place for Wikileaks in this world, but Assange has simply become too distracting. He appears to either be using the site to his own ends, or has lost control of how information is handled. Either way, he lacks the moral authority to hold a leadership role," Lamo noted.

Lamo, who was only vaguely familiar with the Wikileaks leadership structure prior to Manning's confession, has become the target of Internet attacks for his role in preventing the exfiltration of classified information.

Lamo's revelation was the first major breach in operational security at Wikileaks. Wikileaks itself engineered the second by outing Lamo as a source, an apparent act of retribution.

Despite calling for Assange's resignation, Lamo expressed his support for freedom of information. "There's a place - an important place - for Wikileaks and organizations like it in this world. The freedom of information which it supports is critical. But its leadership is not. In fact, it has become a distraction, and is undermining that freedom," Lamo concluded.