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Bradley Manning is an American soldier who has been convicted of violating the Espionage Act and of other crimes linked to the fact that he provided a huge amount of government secrets to the Wikileaks organization.  Manning was convicted because he gave over 700,000 files of government secrets to Wikileaks.  Some of the secrets that he passed over had to do with the military while about a third of them were diplomatic cables that contained confidential diplomatic information.  Manning was acquitted of the most serious charge against him, which was aiding the enemy.  Manning was sentenced on August 21, 2013 to 35 years in prison.  He will be eligible for parole in about 8 years since military law holds that prisoners may be eligible for parole after serving one-third of their sentences.  Manning is being given credit for time already served before his trial.

Manning was born in Oklahoma in 1987.  He entered the military in 2008 and became an intelligence analyst, which gave him access to classified files.  Manning leaked the files because he felt that he was acting as a whistleblower, exposing what he felt were improper actions on the part of the government.