Ex-acting CIA director Michael Morell has resigned from his post at Harvard over its hiring of Chelsea Manning.
Announcing his resignation as a senior fellow, Mr Morell said he could not be part of an institution "that honours a convicted felon and leaker of classified information".
Harvard later withdrew Ms Manning's invitation as a visiting fellow, but said she remained welcome as a speaker.
She was convicted of espionage in 2013 after leaking secret documents.
In his resignation letter, Mr Morell condemned Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, saying its "decision will assist Ms Manning in her long-standing effort to legitimise the criminal path that she took to prominence", and may serve to encourage other whistleblowers.
He added: "I fully support Ms Manning's rights as a transgender American, including the right to serve our country in the US military."
On her Twitter page, Ms Manning responded to Mr Morell's departure by writing "good", and said the debate around her appointment was "nothing to do with trans rights".
The former Army private also retweeted a review of Mr Morell's 2015 book in which he defended the use of drone strikes and torture techniques against terror suspects.
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