WikiLeaks published the first of hundreds of thousands of classified documents disclosed by Chelsea Manning.

WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organisation and publisher of leaked documents. It is funded by donations and media partnerships. It has published classified documents and other media provided by anonymous sources. It was founded in 2006 by Julian Assange. Kristinn Hrafnsson is its editor-in-chief. Its website states that it has released more than ten million documents and associated analyses. WikiLeaks' most recent publication of original documents was in 2019 and its most recent publication was in 2021. From November 2022, numerous documents on the organisation's website became inaccessible. In 2023, Assange said that WikiLeaks is no longer able to publish due to his imprisonment and the effect that US government surveillance and WikiLeaks' funding restrictions were having on potential whistleblowers.

Classified information is confidential material that a government, corporation, or non-governmental organisation deems to be sensitive information, which must be protected from unauthorized disclosure and that requires special handling and dissemination controls. Access is restricted by law, regulation, or corporate policies to particular groups of individuals with both the necessary security clearance and a need to know.

Chelsea Elizabeth Manning is an American activist and whistleblower. She is a former United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses, after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly 750,000 classified, or unclassified but sensitive, military and diplomatic documents. She was imprisoned from 2010 until 2017, when President Barack Obama commuted her sentence. A trans woman, Manning said in 2013 that she had had a female gender identity since childhood and wanted to be known as Chelsea Manning.