Jim Moose on Chelsea Manning

Dear Sir John, Warden Elizabeth and Trustees:

I am sure you have been deluged with complaints about the Rhodes invitation to Chelsea Manning to speak. I would just like to add three comments.

First, while there can be different views about her, the point is she is a convicted felon who served seven years in jail for her crimes. No one has reasonably argued that she was innocent or that the conviction was unfair.

Second and this is personal. The vast store of information she leaked was on numerous topics and caused severe harm to a friend of mine (and I am sure others) . His conversations with a US Representative about reducing corruption in an Asian Country, where he was a high level official, were publicized and he had to flee for his life with his wife and daughter. This had nothing to do with Iraq or Afghanistan and he was an innocent victim of Chelsea's leak. Fortunately, he survived.

Third she is no expert on artificial intelligence . I invited an expert in this field, ChatGPT 4 to comment and he/she said "Chelsea Manning is not widely known to be an expert on artificial intelligence. She is primarily known for her involvement in leaking classified information."

Sincerely, Jim Moose