



The defense could begin its case as early as Monday, when the trial will resume. Manning's defense said at the opening of the trial that he was a young and naive, but a good-intentioned soldier whose struggle to fit in as a gay man in the military made him feel he "needed to do something to make a difference in this world."

He told a military judge in February he leaked the war logs to document "the true costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," including the deaths of two Reuters employees killed in a U.S. helicopter attack. Manning said the diplomatic cables revealed secret pacts and deceit he thought should be exposed.



The evidence showed Manning's training repeatedly instructed him not to give classified information to unauthorized people.

As they wrapped up their case, prosecutors offered that al-Qaida leaders reveled in WikiLeaks' publication of classified U.S. documents, urging members to study them before devising ways to attack the United States.





"I think it was pretty clear that WikiLeaks would have released anything and everything," he said. "Just because he did it that way, is that evidence of intent to share it with the enemy?"

Manning faces eight espionage counts and a computer fraud charge, all alleging he either exceeded his authorized access to classified information or had unauthorized possession of national defense material. His top-secret clearance enabled him to look at many kinds of classified information, but an information assurance officer, Capt. Thomas Cherepko, testified that "having the ability to go there doesn't mean you have the need or authority to go there."



Prosecutors requested fewer courtroom closures to discuss classified information than they projected before the trial started. Maj. Ashden Fein initially said as much as 30 percent of the government's case would require closing the courtroom, but there were only three secret sessions. 

"They may have felt that it was not serving public confidence in the administration of justice to run any more of it than was absolutely necessary behind closed doors," said Eugene Fidell, who teaches military justice at Yale Law School.

