Possibly The Wrong Guys To Frak With

Our government really didn't seem to care too much one way or another about hacker group Anonymous as they went to bat for Julian Assange against MasterCard and against HBGary.  But taking on the Pentagon over Bradley Manning?  That's a whole new level of "Oh no you did not."

The Pentagon said Tuesday it had requested an investigation into a hacker group's reported cyber threat against a military base that is being used to hold a US soldier suspected of giving documents to WikiLeaks.

Pentagon spokesman Colonel David Lapan said the probe was requested after news that the hacker group called Anonymous was seeking to disrupt online activities at the Quantico, Virginia, base where Private Bradley Manning is incarcerated.

"The base at Quantico, including the brig, are aware of that and they have made law enforcement agencies aware of that as well," Lapan said.

The Financial Times reported that hackers known as "Anonymous," which had claimed credit for attacks supporting WikiLeaks in recent months, was seeking to disrupt communications at the US Marine base.

Manning, 23, has been held at the prison since July under a maximum security regimen because authorities say his escape would pose a risk to national security.

The army private faces numerous charges of stealing classified files and is suspected as the source of a trove of secret documents published on the WikiLeaks website in recent months, which have infuriated and embarrassed US officials.

US military authorities brought additional charges against Manning last week, accusing him of illegally downloading vast numbers of secret government files and "aiding the enemy."

His defense lawyers have filed a legal complaint over the conditions of his detention at Quantico, which include a "prevention of injury" watch, which his lawyer said includes being forced to sleep naked.

His supporters say the regimen is inhumane and has been deemed unnecessary by psychiatric experts.

I've stayed out of the Manning story because I don't know all the facts.  I don't agree with the harsh treatment, but the guy is military, and the guy is accused of giving a crapload of government secrets to Wikileaks.   The "aiding the enemy" charge does seem rather trumped up.  But Anonymous isn't helping by trying to screw with the Pentagon, those guys take cyber threats seriously...deadly seriously.

This just got escalated to a whole new level of engagement, and I don't think anything good will come from it.