P.J. Crowley is out as chief spokesman at the State Department after he publicly criticized the Defense Department’s handling of WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning, a senior administration official said Sunday. Crowley, a respected National Security Council spokesman under President Bill Clinton, has been on the outs with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who made him her assistant secretary of state for Public Affairs.
Michael Hammer, President Barack Obama’s NSC spokesman, had been sent to State earlier this year, with the plan for him to succeed Crowley.
The process was speeded up after attendees at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology appearance by Crowley reported that he had called the Pentagon’s handling of Manning, who is detained at the brig at Quantico, “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.”
At Obama’s news conference on Friday, he said: “With respect to Private Manning, I have actually asked the Pentagon whether or not the procedures that have been taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards. They assure me that they are. I can’t go into details about some of their concerns, but some of this has to do with Private Manning’s safety as well.”
