Chelsea Manning: US security policies need ‘healthy dose of sunlight’

Imprisoned government leaker Chelsea Manning is calling for more transparency from the U.S. government over its surveillance and national security policies.

“I believe that when the public lacks even the most fundamental access to what its governments and militaries are doing in their names, then they cease to be involved in the act of citizenship,” Manning wrote in an op-ed in The Guardian on Wednesday.

“These policies affect millions of people around the world every day and can affect anyone – wives, children, fathers, aunts, boyfriends, cousins, friends, employees, bosses, clergy and even career politicians,” she added.

{mosads}“It is time we bring a healthy dose of sunlight to them.”

Manning cited drone strikes, surveillance and interrogation tactics. A government backlash against transparency advocates, she continued, would keep the full truth about such programs from reaching the public.

“In the past decade or so there have been an increasing number of clashes — both in the public and behind the scenes — between the U.S. government, the news media and those in the public who want fair access to records that pertain to the implementation of policies by their government,” Manning said.

“There is a bright distinction between citizens, who have rights and privileges protected by the state, and subjects, who are under the complete control and authority of the state.”

Manning argued that increased transparency would benefit the U.S.’s standing abroad. More openness, she argued, would counter claims of hypocrisy from repressive regimes.

“It would also set a clear example to the rest of the world that, in a truly modern democratic republic, the suppression of the press and sources by criminal prosecutors cannot be tolerated,” Manning said.

“Then the U.S. could no longer be used as an excuse for repressive governments around the world to say: ‘Well, they do it in America, too.’ ”

Manning, a former Army private, is serving 35 years in a federal prison for leaking sensitive military documents to WikiLeaks in 2010.

Manning was tried under the name Bradley Manning before revealing she was transgender after her trial.

She provided WikiLeaks with classified documents detailing the U.S. military effort in Iraq and diplomatic efforts.

Manning has been speaking out more frequently, including criticizing President Obama’s strategy against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Manning officially joined Twitter on April 3.