“I cannot be part of an organization … that honors a convicted felon and leaker of classified information”

Earlier this week, Harvard’s Kennedy school announced two new fellowship appointments: Sean Spicer, former White House Press Secretary and Chelsea Manning, convicted spy.

After the new appointments were announced, Michael Morell, former CIA Deputy Director and current Harvard Fellow resigned from his fellowship in protest.

“I cannot be part of an organization … that honors a convicted felon and leaker of classified information,” wrote Morell in his resignation letter. “As an institution, the Kennedy School’s decision will assist Ms. Manning in her long-standing effort to legitimize the criminal path that she took to prominence, an attempt that may encourage others to leak classified information as well,” he continued.

Manning, a former army intelligence analyst, leaked thousands of classified documents to Wikileaks and was subsequently sentenced to 35 years. Before leaving office, President Obama commuted her sentence.

Morell’s full letter:

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

Mitt Romney (remember him?) applauded Morell’s decision:

Well done, Mike. And abject shame on Harvard. https://t.co/SfI1HxDpdD — Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) September 14, 2017

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