A second Army officer is recommending a general court-martial for a low-ranking intelligence analyst charged in the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history.
The Army says Col. Carl Coffman sent his recommendation Wednesday to Maj. Gen. Michael Linnington, commander of the Military District of Washington. Linnington will decide whether to order a trial for Pfc. Bradley Manning.
Coffman concurred with the presiding officer at Manning's preliminary hearing last month. The 24-year-old Crescent, Okla., native faces 22 counts, including aiding the enemy.
Manning allegedly gave more than 700,000 secret U.S. documents to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks for publication.
Defense lawyers say the emotionally troubled soldier should never have been deployed to Iraq or given access to classified material while stationed there from late 2009 to mid-2010.
Check back for more details on this developing story.
