Chelsea Manning, the convicted traitor who spent years in prison for leaking top-secret military intelligence before being pardoned by President Obama, was set to receive a tremendous honor from Harvard University.
On Thursday, Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government announced that Manning would be a Visiting Fellow at their Institute of Politics this year.
The reaction was swift and merciless. Less than 24 hours later, the dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School announced they had withdrawn the title—while keeping the speaking invitation. But by then the university’s reputation had suffered grievously.
CIA Acting Director Mike Morrell, a Senior Fellow at Harvard, resigned his post, saying he refused to have any association with an institution “that honors a convicted felon and leaker of classified information.”
“I cannot be part of an organization … that honors a convicted felon and leaker of classified information,” Morell wrote, in a letter to the dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School.
“The Kennedy School’s decision will assist Ms. Manning in her long-standing effort to legitimize the criminal path that she took to prominence, an attempt that may encourage others to leak classified information as well,” Morell added. “I have an obligation to my conscience—and I believe to the country—to stand up against any efforts to justify leaks of sensitive national security information.”
CIA Director Mike Pompeo also canceled his upcoming appearance at the university. Pompeo—with politicians in both parties—has repeatedly called Manning a traitor, whose leaks endangered countless lives.
Harvard Fellows often include top names in politics. Other Visiting Fellows this year include former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Manager Robby Mook. It’s not clear why Harvard’s faculty thought Manning fit in, given her background as a disgraced Army Private convicted of leaking 700,000 diplomatic cables and military reports.
AAN Staff
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