U.S. Army analyst detained in leak probe

KUWAIT CITY, June 7 (UPI) -- A U.S. Army specialist is being detained in Kuwait on suspicion of leaking classified information to Wikileaks.org, officials say.

Army Spc. Bradley Manning, 22, of Potomac, Md., is under investigation for allegedly leaking hundreds of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables as well as U.S. combat footage in Iraq to the secret Internet organization based in Berlin, The Washington Post reported Monday.

In late 2009 Manning found video footage of a helicopter attack in Iraq in 2007 that killed several civilians, the report said. Wikileaks released the footage in April 2010 under the title "Collateral Damage," Wired Magazine reported, though it did not confirm Manning was the source of the leak.

Manning said he came across classified information that included "incredible things, awful things … that belonged in the public domain, and not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington, D.C.," Wired said.

"The Department of Defense takes the management of classified information very seriously because it affects our national security, the lives of our soldiers, and our operations abroad," the U.S. military command in Iraq said in a statement.

Manning was stationed at Forward Operating base Hammer outside Baghdad when he was arrested about two weeks ago.