NSA contractor charged with leaking classified information to media

I don't think I have any problem with a prosecution here. Some of the Russia probe leaks seem to be in the public interest to prevent an Administration cover up. This one looks to be purely about Russia and probably something the NSA should play close the vest. Regardless, if you're going to leak -- even as a whistleblower trying to protect your country from itself -- do so prepared to be prosecuted. Just like when you do a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter you should expect to sleep in a jail cell that night.

The other thing that struck me about this story is that we have 25 year old contract workers who have access to these NSA documents. I'm sure she's very smart and capable and all, but this strikes me as playing pretty loose with information security when you have so many people without much seniority or job experience empowered to go off the reservation with classified material.

 

What an idiot... she printed it out, from her workstation. FYI, when you print something out - the printer puts barely visible DocuColor Tracking Dots on the page. The dots contain the date and time, as well as the serial number of the printer. So when the intercept shared the PDF, they gave her away.

 

Not guilty.

DD

 

Age matters less than clearance, the problem is that over the past 12 years or so the intelligence community has gone downhill (not blaming this on any party or politician). Due to the increased need for people with certain clearances, they've relaxed the standards and this is the kind of thing you get. They need to tighten things up and make an example out of people to show that this kind of thing is unacceptable with harsh penalties......and we need politicians to stop commuting the sentence or pardoning criminals like this. All you do is embolden future traitors when you lessen their sentence and set them free prematurely.

 

Her social media postings are filled with anti-Trump rhetoric. She was hired as a contractor in this position in February. Why was someone that was so overtly hostile to the current administration allowed to hire in and obtain a top secret security clearance? That's a massive fail on the OPM background check process.

 

Here's your answer

 

it doesn't have to get this complicated... 99% of the printer out there has no security and contain not just logs of who did what, but the actual content of the material (the printer itself need to be shred before disposal)

here is another sad thing - why even allow printing of top secret material; you can lock it down to only be view and even to the point of not allowing it to be share... tell me the government is quite behind in handling secure info

 

This is the baffling part. I'm a hiring manager, and part of our background check process includes social media checks performed by a third party. They catch stuff all of the time and aren't all that expensive.

The NSA was able to see that six people had printed that file, and she was one of them - and the only one who sent it from near the area of origin for the postmark. The print dots just helped to prove their case further.

They certainly have lax proactive IT security. Thus the problem when you introduce contractors into a secure IT environment. People cut corners, or processes and procedures are ignored all too often in those scenarios.

 

They likely (almost certainly) did those checks as well, but not agreeing with who is president in and of itself usually isn't deemed a valid suspicion that the person will become a traitor to their country. Unfortunately....it's looking like maybe it should be viewed that way.

 

of course with all that said, i don't get why this is top secret secure material... not sure what's so sensitive about it

 

Here is the report for anyone who is interested:

 

When it comes to documents like that, it's possible that only one sentence or even one word is truly classified but that will cause the entire document to become classified. In the case of something like that, it's not always easy to understand exactly why the document is classified but just knowing that it is SHOULD be enough for people to treat it correctly.

 

It likely comes down to how the information was gathered, more than the information itself. Many times with Top Secret info, it is more about the source, and the methods, than the data.

 

Real shame considering her efforts and acquired skills up to before this point put her in a position to affect change and contribute for the better, in or outside of government.

 

Would this fall under Whistle Blower protections?
If not why not?

I guess it depends on what she leaked

Are we more concerned about the leaker than the leaked info ?

Rocket River

 

Also the US doesn't like admitting for certain what they know and what they don't know for the same reasons because if you know what someone knows, you can infer why they would know it or how they could know it. There's lots of reasons for things to be classified.

 

Whistleblower protections generally do not apply to those who leak or otherwise mishandle classified information. The fact that people are betraying their country by leaking classified information is almost always more of a concern than what they leaked, almost without exception.

 

It isnt evidence of corruption or misconduct or a coverup. It is a report about the actions of a foteign intelligence agency.

To be a whistleblower, you have to blow the whistle on something.

 

Not a whistleblower, she committed a crime for political purposes. She should go to jail, and sit right next to the POTUS in there.

 

I didn't see any need for her to leak. I figured this information would legally be public eventually once investigations are concluded.

A waste of a career.