NSA didn’t have to try very hard to catch the alleged leaker

Michael Bastasch, DCNF

The 25-year-old government contractor who allegedly leaked top secret National Security Agency (NSA) documents to a news outlet didn’t do a very good job trying to cover her tracks.

Georgia-based contractor Reality Winner had accessed the documents before she emailed them to a news outlet in early May and even left behind email communications she had with a reporter.

The Department of Justice charged Winner, a contractor at Pluribus International Corporation who had a top secret security clearance, with removing classified documents from a federal facility and sending it to The Intercept, an online news outlet founded by journalist Glenn Greenwald.

Winner removed the documents and gave them to The Intercept in early May. The Intercept published the documents online Monday but notified the NSA on May 31. That gave NSA officials plenty of time to find the leaker.

The document obtained by The Intercept “appeared to be folded and/or creased,” according to a Justice Department legal complaint filed Monday, suggesting the documents were printed out and mailed to the news outlet.

NSA officials quickly found that Winner and five others had access to the document. Emails between Winner and an Intercept contact gave the government the evidence it needed for a warrant to search her home.

On Saturday, Winner admitted to giving The Intercept top secret documents containing information on Russian efforts to hack a voting software company and send phishing emails to U.S. election officials.

Follow Michael on Facebook and Twitter

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

BPR INSIDER COMMENTS

Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!

Latest Articles