On Monday, the justice department tried a Federal Contractor with access to strictly confidential documents for giving out Classified Information to the media.
According to a federal complaint, the 25-year-old Leigh Winner, who is a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation in Georgia, was charged for moving classified documents from a government facility to an online media outlet.
Russia hacks U.S. voting software
Sources say the allegedly leaked document was the same one published on Monday by The Intercept. A report by the National Security Agency on May 5 shows evidence of a cyber-hack by Russian military intelligence on a United States’ voting software, though it is not confirmed if any vote was affected by the attack.
Sources say a U.S. official has verified the authenticity of the document, claiming it is a classified NSA document. He stated in clear terms that the information was tangential to the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment, which provides details to Russia’s interference in U.S. 2016 elections. The DHS discovery showed that the systems Russian intelligence targeted were not directly involved in matching votes.
Guilty as charged
When Winner was confronted with the allegations, she admitted to consciously leaking the information. She was arrested in Georgia on June 3.
Reports by internal auditors show that she was among the six people who printed the file but that she was the only one who had communicated with the news outlet.
It also shows that the agency was further informed on May 30 about an article that was yet to be published by the media house, saying it had classified files in its possession.
The media house’ Director of Communication, Vivian Siu said the documents were delivered anonymously. Siu said they couldn’t identify the source of the document as it was anonymously provided.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said on Monday that when classified documents are disclosed illegally, it poses a security risk and reduces the trust of the citizens in their leaders. People who have been granted access to classified information on the basis of trust and vow to guard it must be duly punished when they sabotage that vow.
If convicted, Winner could spend 10 years in prison for her offense. Winner's Lawyer, Titus Nicholas said deliberations will be made on Thursday by the court to ascertain if Augusta will be released on bond.
