N.S.A. Contractor Arrested in Possible New Theft of Secrets

[MikeWB]

WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. secretly arrested a National Security Agency contractor in recent weeks and is investigating whether he stole and disclosed highly classified computer codes developed to hack into the networks of foreign governments, according to several senior law enforcement and intelligence officials.

The theft raises the embarrassing prospect that for the second time in three years an insider has managed to steal highly damaging secret information from the N.S.A. In 2013, Edward J. Snowden, who was also a contractor for the agency, took a vast trove of documents that were later passed to journalists, exposing N.S.A. surveillance programs in the United States and abroad.


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The information believed stolen by this contractor — who like Mr. Snowden worked for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, which is responsible for building and operating many of the agency's most sensitive cyberoperations — appears to be different in nature from Mr. Snowden's theft.

The contractor arrested in recent weeks is suspected of taking the highly classified "source code" developed by the agency to break into computer systems of adversaries like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Two officials said that some of the information the contractor is suspected of taking was dated.

Matt Apuzzo contributed reporting from New York, and Scott Shane and Mark Mazzetti from Washington.

[MikeWB]

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According to the New York Times, the contractor, who worked for the same company as Edward Snowden, was arrested for stealing highly-classified 'source codes' developed by the NSA to hack foreign government systems.

According to the Justice Department, 51-year-old Harold Thomas Martin, who was employed by Booz Allen Hamilton — the company responsible for most of the NSA's most sensitive cyberoperations — faces up to 10 years in prison for theft of government property and one year for removing classified material. The materials he is believed to have stolen are "critical to national security", Justice Department officials added. "Among the classified documents...were six classified documents obtained from sensitive intelligence and produced by a government agency in 2014," the release stated. "These documents were produced through sensitive government sources, methods and capabilities, which are critical to a wide variety of national security issues. The disclosure of the documents would reveal those sensitive sources, methods, and capabilities." Here's the DOJ statement, minus the spin paragraphs, on the NSA arrest. via @ericgeller pic.twitter.com/EuRXHRYem2 — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 5, 2016 ​​This incident marks the second time in 3 years that an insider has stolen top secret information from the National Security Agency. "If convicted, Martin faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison for the unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials, and ten years in prison for theft of government property," the release stated. He made an initial appearance in US District Court in Baltimore on August 26, 2016. Edward Snowden also took to Twitter to comment on the story, asking if this will expose flaws in US products. This is huge. Did the FBI secretly arrest the person behind the reports NSA sat on huge flaws in US products? https://t.co/otgOwB5efm — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 5, 2016 A former NSA contractor, whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the extent of the United States' domestic spying operation in 2013. He currently resides in Moscow after being granted asylum in Russia on the basis that he could face spying charges in the US. Human Rights Watch, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Amnesty International have all called on President Barack Obama to pardon Snowden.

Read more: https://sputniknews.com/us/20161005/1046033707/fbi-nsa-arrest-contractor.html