WikiLeaks part II: Adrian Lamo responds

Yesterday’s post about the ongoing WikiLeaks saga prompted a couple of fascinating responses, including one from the person at the heart of that post, hacker-turned-journalist Adrian Lamo. In it he corrects a number of errors I made, as well as providing more context about his side of the story — his relationship with Wired News reporter Kevin Poulsen (KLP) and accused spy Bradley Manning, as well as whether he was actively working with law enforcement to bring Manning in. I have his permission to run his response in full.

[ Also on InfoWorld: Read the Cringely post that kicked off this exchange in “Spies, WikiLeaks, and hackers, oh my!” | Stay up to date on all Robert X. Cringely’s observations with InfoWorld’s Notes from the Underground newsletter. ]

I also received a letter from the father of a 16-year-old with Asperger’s Syndrome who corroborates some of my notions about it — which is not a “disability” so much as a “different ability.” I’ll start with Adrian’s unedited response:

You have a number of questions that could be answered by contacting me. I politely request that you consider doing so via my publicly-available contact details in the future – and if you did & I was somehow unreachable, I retract this & apologize.

I would suggest that Manning is neither a whistleblower nor a spy (although he may be guilty of espionage, which is a different animal in some circles.) I was aware that KLP had little interest in keeping my identity secret.

Whether I was right is not for me to globally judge (though I believe I did the right thing, which is also a different animal. Yes, I’m splitting that hair mighty thin.)

Poulsen knows I’ve been around the block a couple dozen times, and I’ve been a bona-fide confidential source, albeit never for Poulsen. I don’t feel taken advantage of. If I was pressured, it was up to me to exercise my right & ability to resist.

I object to your characterization of Asperger’s as a “disability” – it’s more-often described as a “syndrome” or “condition” in psychiatric circles, and in a less pejorative fashion to boot.

I know Poulsen isn’t my friend. We don’t socialize. We don’t go clubbing. He’s the most highly ethical journalist I know. If I were unaware that he considers me a source, not a friend, I’d be taken advantage of. I am however quite aware of this.

The government – and this is important – never asked me to be a source for them in the Manning case, in terms of eliciting information in furtherance of prosecution. This request would be improper, and I would decline in the interests of justice.

I have no reason to lead me to believe that Assange is on the run from anything larger than his own PR machine. It’s perverse that this story has increasingly drifted from focusing on Manning to focusing on Assange.

I hope this clarifies things for you from my end. I’ve been entirely candid with you, and hope you’ll update with a clarification from my end.

Consider it done. Also, to clarify: It would be great to be able to reach everyone I blog about here before I write about them. I agree that’s a better way to go. And if I did that, I might manage to post one a week, maybe. Because this blog is mostly opinion mixed with snark, not straight reporting, I usually don’t attempt to contact sources first; in this case, I did not attempt to reach Lamo, with whom I have corresponded in the past. In hindsight that probably would have been a better idea.

Now here’s a letter from reader R.M., an IT sys admin who’s father to a teen with A.S. He offers another fascinating perspective on this syndrome:

My son has Asperger’s Syndrome. Very little social skill and obsessive interest in a narrow range of interests are well-known characteristics of those with the disorder. High to genius-level IQ is also very common in those who have Asperger’s. My son’s IQ is in the 180 range. My son has few friends, but is very trusting of those he does have and could easily be manipulated by them. He has a more active online social life than a face-to-face social life. He gets into a routine that he follows and will not willingly change. He wears the same brand of shoes and type of clothes every day. He had full scholarship offers from many universities, but would not go because he was afraid to go and live on campus. If you ever need to know anything at all about squirrels, he could tell you every detail you would every want to know for hours. For whatever reason, that’s one of the things he is obsessed with. I could believe that a person with Asperger’s would turn in a friend if they thought it was the right thing to do. My son once left a car I told him to wait in and went and found a policeman to give me a ticket because he noticed that I had parked in a no-parking zone.

Fascinating stuff, and equally so is the long response from reader NWJH in the comments field to yesterday’s post. Thanks folks for keeping me on my toes.

Got more info about Asperger’s, WikiLeaks, or military espionage? Lay it on me below or email me: cringe@infoworld.com.

This story, “WikiLeaks part II: Adrian Lamo responds,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of Robert X. Cringely’s Notes from the Field blog.