Chelsea Manning is publishing a book in which she tries to explain what happened. The link below offers an insight into her personal history.

I have not read the book, obviously, but I feel ambivalent about someone who it appears had access to substantial intelligence data in a work-place culture where she was encouraged to read it- after all, how can you assess a threat if you haven't looked at the 'traffic'? And it should be said, she didn't leak the data for money, or to a foreign government.

On the other hand, we not only knew the US mission in Iraq was a 'shit-storm' of epic proportions, it was predictable. The data released in this sense merely confirmed what was already known, and often reported on the news every night. And from a contractual point of view, Manning clearly broke that contract, and the trust that was integral to her career in the military.

I don't have anything to say about her transition, other than that I hope it works out for her. She has been a victim of scurrilous and hateful media attacks, and says she had a troubled family that complicates the reaction some people will have to her. In the end, I feel it was all just noise, a 'traffic of words' that did not change anything, given that so many people had already lost faith in the justification for the Regime Change before it started.

The interview is here-
Chelsea Manning: ‘I struggle with the so-called free world compared with life in prison’ | Chelsea Manning | The Guardian