Ex-CIA Head Resigns From Harvard for Hiring Chelsea Manning

Former Army Private Chelsea Manning, who leaked military documents to WikiLeaks, has been appointed a visiting fellow at Harvard University, prompting one former CIA official to resign.

The Harvard Kennedy School of Government announced on Wednesday that Manning will be a visiting fellow with the Institute of Politics, or IOP, for one year, along with former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, Hillary Clinton's former campaign manager Robby Mook, and former Kansas City, Missouri Mayor Sylvester James, Jr.

Former CIA Acting Director Michael Morell, who served in President Barack Obama's administration as CIA as both acting and deputy director until 2013, announced his resignation on Thursday.

Former CIA Deputy Director @MichaelJMorell resigns as Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy school over their hiring of Chelsea Manning pic.twitter.com/JORdp4ysHR

— Mosheh Oinounou (@Mosheh) September 14, 2017

"I cannot be part of an organization — The Kennedy School — that honors a convicted felon and leaker of classified information," he wrote to the school's dean. "Ms. Manning was found guilty of 17 serious crimes, including six counts of espionage, for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, an entity that CIA Director Mike Pompeo says operates like an adversarial foreign intelligence service."

"Broadening the range and depth of opportunity for students to hear from and engage with experts, leaders and policy-shapers is a cornerstone of the Institute of Politics," IOP acting director Bill Belahunt, a former Bay State congressman, said in a statement. "We welcome the breadth of thought-provoking viewpoints on race, gender, politics and the media."

• Chelsea Manning, Sean Spicer Named Fellows at Harvard
• Spicer: Scaramucci Was Not Qualified to be WH Communications Director