WikiLeaks: US Army broadens inquiry

It is unclear whether the investigators have specific evidence or are simply trying to determine whether one person working alone could have downloaded and disseminated tens of thousands of documents.

The Army has charged Manning with disclosing a classified video of a US helicopter attack to WikiLeaks,as well as over 150,000 classified diplomatic cables. Officials said on Friday that he was also the main suspect in the disclosure to WikiLeaks of more than 90,000 classified documents on the Afghan war.

A military official acknowledged on Friday that Army investigators were looking into whether Manning physically handed compact discs containing classified information to someone in the US. Manning,an intelligence analyst who was deployed over the past year in Iraq with the Second Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division east of Baghdad,visited friends in Boston during a home leave in January.

In at least one instance,Manning smuggled highly classified data out of his intelligence unit on a disc made to look like a music CD by Lady Gaga.