This is a working in progress, may contain errors, is incomplete, and in development
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt, Army CID, witness at Bradley Manning's Article 32 Pretrial Hearing , Day Two, 12/17/11.
General Description:
- Army CID, forensics for civil, criminal interaction from November 2010 to December 2011 and special agent on the intrusion team assigned to the Manning investigation.
- Interviewed more than 10 people including Bradley Manning's Chain of Command and contractors.
- Interviewed all but one of 10 or more individual with other CID agents.
Individuals mentioned in the testimony of Special Agent Troy Bettencourt, Army CID:
- Julian Assange
- Unnamed individuals who were Bradley Manning's Chain of Command.
- Unnamed individuals who were contractors.
- Unnamed CID Agents who accompanied Special Agent Troy Bettencourt on all but one of his interviews of more than ten unnamed individuals.
Article 32 Pretrial Transcript:
[Fourth witness. Special Agent Troy Bettencourt (sp.). Testimony was accompanied by visual projection of two archives of the WikiLeaks Web site and three screenshots of @WikiLeaks tweets.]
Prosecution: Where do you work?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : The US Treasury.
Prosecution: What kind work?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : Forensics for civil, criminal interaction. I was an Army CID prior to my current position...from November 2010 to December 2011 and then previously from 2001 to 2005.
Prosecution: What was your job?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : I was a special agent on the intrusion team assigned to this.
Prosecution: What training have you completed?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : I have completed courses from the government and commercial providers...NCay...Access Data...DC3...
Prosecution: Have you ever testified?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : Yes...cyber crimes...general crimes.
Prosecution: What is wikileaks.org?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : WikiLeaks was founded in 2006 by an Australian national...bound to no government entity.
The same time the organization existed, the web site existed...they solicit classified, decrypted...
Prosecution: How does one submit to the web site?
[Special Agent Troy Bettencourt then goes through a user flow process that he describes as the WikiLeaks submission process...]
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : You initiate...the Web site scans your computer for the file to upload...
Prosecution: WikiLeaks is a Web site?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : Yes, on the technical side it is a Web site.
Prosecution: Where are its servers?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : All over the world: Germany, Sweden, (names more countries) even Texas.
Prosecution: Where is it fiscally based?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : Wherever Mr. Assange is located. At one time it was Iceland. Now it is England.
Prosecution: Why Iceland?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : Iceland initiated the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative.
IO: Can you please repeat that? What did you call it? Please say that again.
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative.
Prosecution: Did WikiLeaks ever solicit?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : ...put an update..."Most Wanted List" by country...
[Special Agent Troy Bettencourt then explains the Way Back machine. On a projected screen are shown two Web archives he identifies as from May ?, 2010 and then November 5, 2009. I could not find an specific enough date for the May archive online, since I did not get the day, and there was no WikiLeaks archive available online dated November 5, 2009.]
[Prosecution shows archive of WikiLeaks Web site displaying a country listings and stops scrolling at the United States under which is a bullet points list that includes: Intellipedia, http://opensource.gov and more. Under military intelligence on the 'Most Wanted List' we see featured CIA, detainee interrogations, rules of engagement, Camp Delta, and more. Special Agent Troy Bettencourt reads allowed what is shown on the screen. At one point the Investigating Officer asks that the prosecution and Special Agent Troy Bettencourt to slow down and repeat themselves, saying that they are going too fast.]
Prosecution: Did WikiLeaks ever use social media?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : Yes...very much. They still do.
Prosecution: What is twitter?
[Special Agent Troy Bettencourt answers. I did not write his answer down.]
[NB Screenshots of WikiLeaks tweets showed an older version of the WikiLeaks logo, but one that had "Free Bradley" in it. I cannot confirm that Bradley Manning noticed the banner.]
Have encrypted videos of US bomb strikes on civilians http://bit.ly/wlafghan2 we need super computer time http://ljsf.org/
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 8, 2010
NSA has a database called TRESUREMAP that stores info on millions of IP addrs. Know more? Contact us,
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 16, 2010
We would like a list of as many .mil email addresses as possible. Please contact [email protected] or submit
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 7, 2010
[Special Agent Troy Bettencourt goes through WikiLeaks publishing dates 'First release February 2010 Reykjavik 13, March 15, 2010 Army...April 2010 edited Apache video Special Agent Troy Bettencourt says, "They termed it Collateral Murder" July 2010 Afghan War Logs...Oct 2010 Special Agent Troy Bettencourt says, "What they call Iraq War Diary" 2004 to 2009, then started to release US State Dept Cables...what they called "cablegate" "released in batches" April, detainee info at GTMO...Special Agent Troy Bettencourt finishes.]
Prosecution: You mentioned US State Dept cable 'batches'?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : 20th of August the entire document, 250,000 US State Department un-redacted cables were published on the Internet.
[Defense cross-examines the witness.]
Defense: Work with other agencies? FBI, Department of State, ICE? ... Interviewed many individuals?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : More than 10.
Defense: Interview any of PFC's Chain of Command?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : Yes or contractors.
Defense: Did you interview them alone or with others?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : Interviewed all but one with others. Only CID, I don't recall others.
Defense: Any audio or video?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : No.
Defense What determines if audio or video is used?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : Need approval.
Defense Did you come across any evidence of Brianna Manning?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt: He had an email address, a FaceBook profile. He had emailed a member of the chain of command with a picture of him dressed as a woman.
Defense Aware of him being gay?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : Yes.
Defense Ever served in the military?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : Yes. Served for 12 years.
Defense During your work, was he tied to a known terrorist group?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : No.
Defense An individual interested in politics (referring to Manning)?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : Friends said they would have discussions with him pertaining to politics.
Defense Evidence of him exuding odd behavior?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : Incident where Manning assaulted a supervisor...incident where he threw a computer...incident where he was found curled up in a ball.
Defense Opinion as to his military leadership?
Special Agent Troy Bettencourt : I would with the benefit of hindsight like to think I would have noticed his behavior and prevented him from deploying.
[Prosecution re-examines Special Agent Troy Bettencourt (sp.)]
Prosecution: You are CID? As CID you sign a non-disclosure agreement for government clearance. Do you believe people have a responsibility to secure classified info?
[Then the prosecution as that "If Manning is guilty for what he is accused of did Special Agent Troy Bettencourt asked if he put people's lives at risk." Defense objects. ]
[IO stops line of questions and tells Prosecution not to ask about Manning's guilt or innocence.]
Other Resources:
- Transcript of Article 32 Pretrial Hearing, Day Two, 12/17/11. (Source: Alexa O'Brien, WL Central)
- In Depth Notes (Source: Rainey Reitman, Bradley Manning Support Network)
- Live Blog (Source: Kevin Gosztola, Fire Dog Lake)
