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I honestly don't understand, she leaked hundreds of thousands of US government documents to WikiLeaks when she was a Private in the U.S. military, and she's going to be released on 17 May 2017 after serving seven years in prison.
That's seven years for leaking classified government documents that could cause a threat to national security.
After all this why did President Obama just let her go?
Am I missing something, or is there a bigger picture?
"Just let her go" is not exactly true; she served seven years in prison and wasn't pardoned, rather her 35 year sentence was reduced to 7 years. A subtle but important difference.
At any rate, as near as I can find Obama administration has released no detailed statements about this, but this is the petition Manning sent, which was granted. I feel it's safe to assume that this action was based on the arguments presented there.
This is a – hopefully accurate – summary of the points put forth in the petition, in the order they first appear in the document:
Well-intentioned – Manning has "never made excuses for disclosing classified materials" and "accepted responsibility". The disclosure was well-intentioned with the intention of "raising public awareness about issues she found concerning, including the impact of war on innocent victims", and she "did not intend to harm the interests of the United States or harm any service members".
Unusual long sentence – The 35 year sentence is "off the charts for an offense of this nature" and "any other civilized judicial system would have resulted in at most a few years of prison time".
This extraordinary long sentence was due to the "public spectacle" and "great scrutiny" of the trail, and because the military court was not intended and is not equipped to deal with these sort of cases due to lack of sentencing guidelines and historical precedent.
There have been only a few similar cases, with sentence of one to three years.
Confused young adult – "as a young [transgender] adult, attempting to make sense of her feelings and place in the world [..] compounded by [..] the military [..] not [being] a welcome place for transgender". This, it is argued, led to "a detrimental effect on her mentally[,] and emotionally leading to the disclosures".
Difficult time in prison – Manning has spent a long time battling with the military over her gender dysphoria, which the military "fierily fought", such as "[her] request to use her legal name, [..] refer to her with female pronouns". "This fight has taken a great toll on her".
In her personal statement she goes into more detail, ending with "The bottom-line is this: I need help and I am still not getting it. I am living through a cycle of anxiety, anger, hopelessness, loss, and depression. I cannot focus. I cannot sleep. I attempted to take my own life."
Solitary confinement – "consider Ms. Manning's prison conditions, including her significant time spent in solitary confinement, as a reason for reducing her sentence to time served".
She was held in solitary confinement for "nearly a year" while awaiting trail, and again since her attempted suicide she has been placed in confinement. This "conflicts with the President's mandate to halt the use of solitary confinement for any purpose".
Second chance – "I have serviced a sufficiently long sentence [..] I am merely asking for a first change to live my life outside the USDB as the person I was born to be".
Not all charges were valid – Morris Davis argues that some of the charges were based on the disclosure of Detainee Assessment Briefs (DABs); but much of this information was already on the internet or other public ally available resources. In addition these DABs "were unreliable and had little value".
It's not clear which of these arguments had the greater weight in Obama's reasoning, but there's a good chance that "unusual long sentence" is the most important one.
As any summary, it omits some of the nuances, subtleties, and examples. I encourage you to read the full statement.
Conveniently, Obama gave a press conference on the day this question was asked, and he answered this very question himself.
Q: Are you concerned, Mr. President, that commuting Chelsea Manning's sentence will send a message that leaking classified material will not generate a tough sentence to groups like WikiLeaks?
He said that he believes Manning's sentence was excessive and she had already served enough time.
It has been my view that given she went to trial; that due process was carried out; that she took responsibility for her crime; that the sentence that she received was very disproportional -- disproportionate relative to what other leakers had received; and that she had served a significant amount of time, that it made sense to commute and not pardon, her sentence.
He also said he recognizes that Manning was a whistleblower, not a spy, (he just chooses to use a law designed to prosecute enemy spies against whistleblowers,) and that the commuted sentence is sufficient to deter whistleblowing.
And, you know, I feel very comfortable that justice has been served and that a message has still been sent that when it comes to our national security, that wherever possible, we need folks who may have legitimate concerns about the actions of government or their superiors or the agencies in which they work, that they try to work through the established channels and avail themselves of the whistleblower protections that have been put in place.
The question suggests that 7 years is too light of a sentence, that leaking classified information deserves a heavier sentence like the original 35 years. I think this needs to be addressed as well.
Whistleblowing has never warranted a sentence of more than a few years. Manning's sentence is highly unusual, and it is the inevitable result of prosecuting whistleblowers with the Espionage Act, a law meant to prosecute spies, who typically receive much more severe sentences.
Whereas actually spying for foreign powers can result in much lengthier sentences like Manning's original sentence, whistleblowing like what Manning did typically results in far more lenient sentences. Fortunately for us, Obama has prosecuted quite a few whistleblowers and media leakers, so there are a lot of data points to support this.
Samuel Morison: Two years.
Thomas Drake: One year probation and community service.
Shamai Leibowitz: 20 months.
Stephen Kim: 13 months.
Jeffrey Sterling: 3.5 years.
John Kiriakou: 30 months.
Donald Sachtleben: 43 months.
David Petraus: Two years probation and a $100,000 fine.
Still others, such as John Brennan and Leon Panetta, leaked information to the media but were never even charged with a crime.
So at 7 years, she already served far more time than any other whistleblower. It should also be noted that Sterling never pled guilty, or "took responsibility for his crime", yet his sentence was still a tenth of Manning's original sentence, and still half as long as her commuted sentence.
