WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning is being moved from the Quantico brig where he is currently being held to the prison at Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas, according to the Pentagon.

The Associated Press reported that the move is connected to criticism about how the Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Virginia, has treated the Army soldier. But at a press conference on Tuesday, the Army’s general counsel downplayed the criticism.

“I won’t say that his conditions at Quantico had nothing to do with this,” said Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon’s general counsel, but also added that “the fact that we have made a decision to transfer him should not be interpreted as a criticism of the place he was before.” The Pentagon, he said, remained satisfied that Manning’s treatment at Quantico was in compliance with “legal and regulatory standards in all respects, and we salute the military personnel there for the job they did in difficult circumstances.”

Manning’s treatment during his detention has been the subject of intense criticism. The ACLU called his treatment “gratuitously harsh” in a letter sent last month to U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates. And former State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley was forced to resign after publicly calling Manning’s treatment by the military “counterproductive and stupid.” President Obama found himself defending Manning’s treatment at a press conference last month.