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Ex-NSA Contractor Who Stole Top Secret Documents Is Sentenced To 9 Years In Prison
A former National Security Agency contractor who pleaded guilty to stealing vast troves of classified material over the course of two decades has been sentenced to nine years in prison.
Harold Martin III, 54, apologized before U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett handed down the sentence on Friday.
"My methods were wrong, illegal and highly questionable," Martin told the court in Baltimore, according to The Associated Press.
Earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to "willful retention of national defense information," a crime that carries a punishment of anywhere from no jail time to a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. His plea agreement called for a sentence of nine years in prison.
Previously: NSA Contractor Harold Martin III Arrested
NSA Contractor Accused of "Stealing" Terabytes of Information, Charged Under Espionage Act
The Shadow Brokers Identify Hundreds of Targets Allegedly Hacked by the NSA
Former NSA Contractor May Have Stolen 75% of TAO's Elite Hacking Tools
Former NSA Contractor Harold Martin Indicted
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday July 19 2019, @09:46PM (9 children)
Not the best deal, really.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 19 2019, @09:54PM
Considering he didn't disappear off the face of the Earth, I'd say he was lucky.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 19 2019, @09:54PM (2 children)
It depends upon what he would have been charged with if he didn't take that deal. If he had been removing material for the better part of two decades, I'm thinking he got a great deal out of this because he deserves much worse.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 19 2019, @11:56PM
Deserves more?
The guy took a deal that will probably let him still touch his children again before he dies.
Obviously sentencing is not proportional to acts committed. Sentencing, even prosecution, depends on your class. Really big fish like Hillary are immune. High level government employees like Petraeus get prosecuted, but their sentences fall on the scale of months.
Some low level peon contractor listening to your phone calls in Kansas City though gets hit full force: decade if he cooperates, life if he doesn't.
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday July 19 2019, @11:59PM
He might be charged with more serious crimes later so the deal is really not good at all.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday July 19 2019, @10:04PM
What leverage did he have? They probably had mountains of evidence to bury him in.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 19 2019, @11:34PM (2 children)
Specially not when Hillary and Petraeus walk free.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 20 2019, @02:54AM (1 child)
You forgot Trump and his kids.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 20 2019, @04:23AM
That may make you feel better saying that, but Trump as president can personally declassify anything. He has that power because we the people by the millions voted to take a risk with him.
Hillary, Petraeus and this sap did not face that kind of scrutiny.
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Saturday July 20 2019, @01:38AM
Uncle Sam doesn't like to get crossed. People fucking with the government never get off easy.