On February 18, 2010, the transparency organization WikiLeaks began publishing the first in what would become one of the largest classified disclosures in American history — a torrent of U.S. government documents provided by the Army intelligence analyst now known as Chelsea Manning.
At the time of the initial release, Manning was serving as a 22-year-old specialist deployed to Forward Operating Base Hammer in Iraq. Assigned to an intelligence unit, Manning had access to classified military and diplomatic databases, including the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet). Over a period of months, Manning downloaded hundreds of thousands of battlefield reports, diplomatic cables, and other sensitive files — material that would fundamentally alter public debates over secrecy, war, and accountability.
The February 18 publication marked the public unveiling of what WikiLeaks described as classified documents related to U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Though the most explosive releases — including the “Collateral Murder” video in April 2010 and the vast “Afghan War Diary” and “Iraq War Logs” later that year — would follow in stages, the February release signaled that a breach of unprecedented scale was underway.
WikiLeaks, founded by Australian activist Julian Assange in 2006, had positioned itself as a digital-age clearinghouse for leaked documents. Its stated mission was radical transparency: exposing state and corporate misconduct by publishing primary source materials in bulk. Critics argued that such indiscriminate disclosure risked lives and national security. Supporters countered that democratic governance depends on informed citizens — and that secrecy had shielded misconduct during the post-9/11 wars.
As 2010 unfolded, the scale of the leak became clear. The Afghanistan War Diary, released in July, contained more than 75,000 U.S. military incident reports. In October came nearly 400,000 Iraq War Logs, detailing detainee abuse allegations and civilian casualty counts. Finally, beginning in November, WikiLeaks published over 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables — confidential communications between the State Department and American embassies around the world.
The disclosures ignited fierce political backlash. The Obama administration condemned the leaks as reckless and damaging. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described them as “an attack on the international community.” Military officials argued that informants and local allies were placed at risk. Meanwhile, civil liberties groups defended Manning as a whistleblower exposing wrongdoing — particularly regarding civilian casualties and the conduct of detainee operations.
The legal consequences were severe. Manning was arrested in May 2010 after communicating online with former hacker Adrian Lamo, who reported the disclosures to authorities. Court-martialed in 2013, Manning was convicted under the Espionage Act and other charges, though acquitted of aiding the enemy. Manning received a 35-year sentence — the harshest ever imposed in the United States for leaking classified information at that time.
In 2017, President Barack Obama commuted Manning’s sentence after nearly seven years in military confinement, citing both the severity of the punishment and evolving public debate over whistleblowing and transparency. The commutation did not erase the conviction but effectively ended Manning’s imprisonment.
The reverberations of the February 18, 2010 publication continue to shape global politics. The episode forced governments to confront the vulnerabilities of digital information systems. It accelerated the normalization of large-scale data leaks as a political phenomenon. It also blurred the lines between journalism and activism, as major newspapers partnered with WikiLeaks to publish selected materials — a collaboration that itself raised new ethical questions.
For supporters, the Manning disclosures exposed uncomfortable truths about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and revealed the candid inner workings of American diplomacy. For critics, they represented a dangerous erosion of state secrecy and operational security in an age when data can be copied and transmitted instantly.
