from the what-were-her-parents-thinking? dept.
Reality Winner, a former NSA contractor accused of leaking a document to The Intercept, has had her interrogation by the FBI detailed in a transcript filed by federal prosecutors:
A National Security Agency contractor accused of leaking a classified report on Russian hacking aimed at the 2016 election told FBI agents she smuggled the document out of a high security intelligence facility in her pantyhose. That and other details appear in a transcript federal prosecutors filed in court Wednesday detailing the interrogation of 25-year-old linguist Reality Winner by the FBI as they carried out a search warrant at her home in June.
[...] Winner appears to say she believed the contents of the report — which described Russian spearfishing cyberattacks aimed at U.S. voter registration databases — should be in the public debate. "I saw the article and was like, I don't understand why this isn't a thing," she said. "It made me very mad ... I guess I just didn't care about myself at that point. ... Yeah, I screwed up royally."
[...] The transcript hints at possible political motivations for the leak. Winner says she objected to her workplace tuning the TV to Fox News. She also had a signed photo of CNN Anchor Anderson Cooper, although she said the signature was fake. "I wasn't trying to be a Snowden or anything," Winner said, referring to NSA leaker Edward Snowden and his massive disclosures of details on U.S. government surveillance. "I guess it's just been hard at work because ... I've filed formal complaint about them having Fox News on, you know? Uh, at least, for God's sake, put Al Jazeera on, or a slideshow with people's pets. I've tried anything to get that changed." Despite Winner's statement to the FBI agents, prosecutors say that in a Facebook chat in March with her sister, Winner said she was on the "side" of both Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
On pages 4-5 of the transcript, the FBI agents discuss letting Reality Winner (RW) put groceries in her fridge and leash up her dog. Do they teach them that technique at the Academy?
Previously: Feds Arrest NSA Contractor in Leak of Top Secret Russia Document
Related Stories
Barely an hour after a news organization published an article about a Top Secret National Security Agency document on Russian hacking, the Justice Department announced charges against a 25-year-old government contractor who a senior federal official says was the leaker of the document.
The May 5, 2017 intelligence document published by The Intercept, an online news organization, describes new details about Russian efforts to hack voting systems in the U.S a week prior to the 2016 presidential election. While the document doesn't say the hacking changed any votes, it "raises the possibility that Russian hacking may have breached at least some elements of the voting system, with disconcertingly uncertain results."
Even as the document was ricocheting around Washington, the Justice Department announced that a criminal complaint was filed in the Southern District of Georgia charging Reality Leigh Winner, 25, a federal contractor, with removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet.
Source: NBC News
Once investigative efforts identified Winner as a suspect, the FBI obtained and executed a search warrant at her residence. According to the complaint, Winner agreed to talk with agents during the execution of the warrant. During that conversation, Winner admitted intentionally identifying and printing the classified intelligence reporting at issue despite not having a "need to know," and with knowledge that the intelligence reporting was classified. Winner further admitted removing the classified intelligence reporting from her office space, retaining it, and mailing it from Augusta, Georgia, to the news outlet, which she knew was not authorized to receive or possess the documents.
Source: Department of Justice
While the document provides a rare window into the NSA's understanding of the mechanics of Russian hacking, it does not show the underlying "raw" intelligence on which the analysis is based. A U.S. intelligence officer who declined to be identified cautioned against drawing too big a conclusion from the document because a single analysis is not necessarily definitive.
Source: The Intercept
How The Intercept Outed Reality Winner
Julian Assange: Alleged NSA leaker 'must be supported'
Bad tradecraft: How the Intercept may have outed its own leaker
WikiLeaks tweet #1: "Suspected Intercept reporter gave US government NSA whistleblower Reality Leigh Winner's post code, printout and her report number" and tweet #2: "WikiLeaks issues a US$10,000 reward for information leading to the public exposure & termination of this 'reporter'".
A former National Security Agency employee who worked at Tailored Access Operations has pleaded guilty to willful retention of national defense information, the same charge Harold T. Martin III faces:
A former National Security Agency employee admitted on Friday that he had illegally taken from the agency classified documents believed to have subsequently been stolen from his home computer by hackers working for Russian intelligence.
Nghia H. Pho, 67, of Ellicott City, Md., pleaded guilty to one count of willful retention of national defense information, an offense that carries a possible 10-year sentence. Prosecutors agreed not to seek more than eight years, however, and Mr. Pho's attorney, Robert C. Bonsib, will be free to ask for a more lenient sentence. He remains free while awaiting sentencing on April 6.
Mr. Pho had been charged in secret, though some news reports had given a limited description of the case. Officials unsealed the charges on Friday, resolving the long-running mystery of the defendant's identity.
Mr. Pho, who worked as a software developer for the N.S.A., was born in Vietnam but is a naturalized United States citizen. Prosecutors withheld from the public many details of his government work and of the criminal case against him, which is linked to a continuing investigation of Russian hacking.
Related: "The Shadow Brokers" Claim to Have Hacked NSA
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
NSA Had NFI About Opsec: 2016 Audit Found Laughably Bad Security
Reality Winner NSA Leak Details Revealed by Court Transcript
Submitted via IRC for Fnord666
Reality Winner pleads guilty to leaking NSA election hacking data
Reality Winner was expected to plead guilty to leaking NSA data, and she's done just that. The whistleblower has officially pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful retention and dissemination of national defense information. Sentencing will have to wait, but the felony carries a maximum penalty of 63 months (5.25 years) with up to three years of supervised release.
Winner faced the charge after giving The Intercept NSA documents that showed Russia's military intelligence wing, the GRU, attempting to hijack the computers of 122 local election officials ahead of the 2016 American vote. The NSA had determined that Russia wanted to collect information about election-related hardware and software in what could have been a precursor to manipulating the vote itself.
Previously: Feds Arrest NSA Contractor in Leak of Top Secret Russia Document
Reality Winner NSA Leak Details Revealed by Court Transcript
NSA leaker who mailed doc outlining Russian hacking gets 5 years in prison
Reality Winner, the intelligence contractor who leaked to The Intercept and was quickly caught in June 2017 thanks to microdot printing, was sentenced to 63 months in prison on Thursday. She had pleaded guilty on June 21 to a single count of unlawful retention and transmission of national defense information.
The information that Winner provided to The Intercept resulted in this June 5, 2017 news story: "Top-Secret NSA Report details Russian hacking effort days before 2016 election."
Previously: Feds Arrest NSA Contractor in Leak of Top Secret Russia Document
Reality Winner NSA Leak Details Revealed by Court Transcript
Reality Winner Pleads Guilty to Leaking NSA Election Hacking Data
(Score: 4, Insightful) by wonkey_monkey on Thursday September 28 2017, @10:14PM (21 children)
Can we start putting [which is a person's name] after her name?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 28 2017, @10:21PM (1 child)
Or just call her "Deluded Loser".
(Score: 5, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 28 2017, @10:52PM
that's synonymous with 'Trump supporter' so no
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday September 28 2017, @10:31PM (4 children)
It is her REAL birth name.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4583088/How-Reality-Winner-got-unusual-name.html [dailymail.co.uk]
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 29 2017, @01:12AM (2 children)
The last name was originally "Winnings". The first name was something totally bland and normal that I forget, starting with "R". She thus kept her initials.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday September 29 2017, @04:25AM (1 child)
Read the link AC.
Her father, who's name was Ronald Winner named her.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 29 2017, @06:59PM
Currently, her mother and stepfather are saying that this was her birth name. Should be believe that? Earlier articles disagree.
I could see wanting to pretend either way due to embarrassment.
In any case, she or a parent is really weird. That person's mental health might be questionable.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Friday September 29 2017, @04:20PM
Yes, but it doesn't look like one. Unless you've heard of her before, the headline borders on the nonsensical.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 1, Troll) by takyon on Thursday September 28 2017, @10:32PM
Sure, if we can put the title [Picker of Nits] after your name.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 28 2017, @10:33PM (12 children)
We need to go back to Native American naming. We could have meaningful names like Buffalo Ass Crack, or Two Dogs Fucking, or Crack Pipe. Reality Winner? Her mama was probably familiar with crack pipes, fucking dogs, and ass cracks.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 28 2017, @10:40PM
You're projecting. Not everyone likes what you like.
(Score: 4, Funny) by DeathMonkey on Thursday September 28 2017, @11:03PM (9 children)
Welp, Runaway's got nothin'
Can we all agree that Russia interfered in our election now?
(Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 28 2017, @11:10PM (5 children)
Yep. By supporting Hillary.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Thursday September 28 2017, @11:25PM (3 children)
Yep. By supporting Hillary.
That's laughably false.
But, if it were true, I'd still want to rain down on them like a ton of bricks. That's the difference between patriots and traitors.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 28 2017, @11:27PM (2 children)
>That's laughably false.
Except for the part where both the Clintons and Podestas accepted lots of money from some shady Russian billionaires.
DERPA DERPA IT'S OKAY WHEN WE DO IT!!!
(Score: 5, Funny) by DeathMonkey on Thursday September 28 2017, @11:31PM
Well I'm glad we didn't elect the person who accepted lots of money from shady Russian billionaires.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 29 2017, @03:24AM
(Score: 1) by Aegis on Friday September 29 2017, @06:05AM
Reality Loser
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 28 2017, @11:21PM (1 child)
Probably, but interfered in what way? I don't think being somehow tied to the release of those emails - which were real - is such a big deal; those should have been public anyway. The RNC emails should be public too. Russia's interference would be more serious if they actually managed to alter vote counts. As it is, the emails had some effect on people's voting decisions, but the choice was still their own.
There's a billion things wrong with Trump, but corporate democrats seem to be using the Russia thing to avoid talking so much about how they aren't actually liberal. What a wasted opportunity, as usual.
(Score: 5, Informative) by c0lo on Thursday September 28 2017, @11:39PM
We may live to know if a nuclear spat with NK isn't invoked just to distract us.
In fresh news (Sep 28) : Trump-Russia investigators close in on sources named in explosive dossier [independent.co.uk]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 29 2017, @04:06AM
Russia has interfered with US elections dating back the Cold War...and the US has done the same.
Hell, the award-winning Cold War game Twilight Struggle is based mostly off of this concept.
The problem with the "Russia 2016" narrative comes from the misrepresentation of "meddling" as "tampering" which are two clearly different things. The Russians funneled money towards influencing the election through advertising, news stories, etc. They did not compromise ballot integrity.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday September 29 2017, @03:48AM
I know 2 Native American girls, one's last name is "Cloud" and one's last name is "Lightning." That's pretty fucking badass, if you ask me.
White Yuppies will never have cool last-names like those, so they try to compensate by giving their kids stupid first-names like "Skyler" and "Cole" and "Apple" and "Lysah."
But shit, I like the Native American naming convention. I want to be Chief Drunken-Bear. I've already celebrated my Native American heritage by drinking firewater, smoking the peace-pipe, and painting stripes on my face with menstrual blood.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Thursday September 28 2017, @11:07PM (11 children)
She's all set up for the "clueless young patriot" defense, which would have given her a smaller jail sentence than massive leakers, had the US justice been fair and not under the orders of a few psychopaths... Then again, hitting Fox News rather than complain she couldn't wear her MAGA cap ... not smart.
How do people like that get Clearance again?
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 29 2017, @01:21AM (2 children)
Most of the leakers could be trivially prevented, but it is politically incorrect to filter out commies and islamists.
This lady had some sort of "all religions are good" nonsense going on, collecting Islamic prayer stuff and a Hindu idol while going to a Christian church. That, plus hating Fox, plus the yoga, plus the tattoos, plus being a young blonde unwed female: it is pretty obvious that she was dangerously liberal.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday September 29 2017, @02:53AM (1 child)
It is also pretty obvious that she was set up -- making as much noise as she did, in that agency, and about that particular topic. She fit the profile as well as pissing off a lot of her coworkers, got the attention of counterintel, and they left within reach a big shiny gold-plated piece of paper labeled "Evidence to Bury Trump Forever" covered with "do not steal" sticky-notes.
If that goddam cow lacks the self-restraint to at least pretend to be a team player rather than a rabblerouser then she lacks the restraint of letting her ideology get the best of her under extreme temptation. She mentioned that she folded it half and snuck it out in her pantyhos? By now the goddamn thing has got to be stinking worse than she does. Because those pantyhos don't let the kitten breathe.
Any why do people say that Air Force girls are all hot? The Army and Marines have way more and hotter girls. Air force women, and Navy women, have a few perfect ones but 90% of them are disgusting ill-tempered cows who look (and act) exactly like Winner.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday September 29 2017, @04:31AM
Modded Troll...looks like I found the Air Force guy who married the Navy girl at Lackland.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 29 2017, @02:01AM (1 child)
Snowden, Manning, Winner... all part of the left.
To stop the leaks, simply toss out people who obviously hate America.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 29 2017, @02:15AM
Idiots though are apparently reserved for the right :D too many names to list, but AC seems to be at the top.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday September 29 2017, @02:17AM (4 children)
I hear and read that question a lot, and I'll tell you the answer -- people like that get their clearance, as I got mine (though SECRET, not TOP SECRET like hers), by joining the military right out of high school at age 18 and with no chance to drum up a bad history or have bad credit, divorces, or having lived in 5 places in the past 10 years with somebody other than their parents.
In other words, it's pretty easy to do when you're 18 and enlisting in the military. Even people with TOP SECRET clearances are allowed to have political opinions, hell, the former head of the CIA admitted to being a member of the Communist party.
And if you had minor run-ins with the law or drug use that is a matter of record at that age, as long as you admit it on the E-QIP(or, SF-86) and to the investigators, you will not be separated (though you will be retrained into another field) if you aren't granted your clearance.
It was a whole different ball-game back when I got mine, before 9/11 and Snowden. Now, the average time just to be granted a SECRET is 9 fucking months and (usually) includes an intimidating interview by some suited-up goon in shades and a buzzcut (for those seeking clearance in the military, the questioning is handled by a military person after basic training). The rule of thumb is, if you aren't on the record doing it (meaning usually pot), then don't admit it. For TOP SECRET, which typically takes a year and 3 months-ish, you will be subject to an SSBI which includes a polygraph (and I've heard that some of those national security polygraph investigators can be quite abusive when it comes to past history).
Finally, the conspiracy theorist in me does want to believe that there's something funny and deliberate about the names of all these noveau leakers - Bradley Manning (as in, manning an army Bradley tank), Edward Snowden ("Snowed-in," a reference to being cornered in Russia), and finally Reality Winner (We'll see if she wins at her trial).
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by jmorris on Friday September 29 2017, @04:20AM
Well that was only possible because the POTUS at the time was third generation Communist Party himself.
It is becoming obvious though that our government is infected top to bottom with every enemy one can imagine. Communists, Islamists, anarchists, Ecoterrorists, is there anything dangerous they won't hand out a security clearance to these days? This much poz has to kill the host soon.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday September 29 2017, @04:33AM (1 child)
Basically if sounds like if you seek out this kind of work, you are probably not wanted. If they come looking for you they already know the answers to their own questions. If you get the work foisted on you by your boss, run away.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 29 2017, @05:03PM
Oh no people have confessed to murders at their security "interviews"
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 29 2017, @04:50AM
It is all a hoax. They make us believe because we want to believe. Remember what Faux Molder said? "I want to believe".
They give us hoaxes because we want to believe in fantasies. Here are some good links:
1. Taylor Swift - Lipstick on a Pig [youtube.com]
2. Jewrassic Liars [youtube.com]
(Score: 5, Funny) by c0lo on Friday September 29 2017, @02:31AM
You asking 'bout Clearance Grant, Reality Winner's boyfriend?
They didn't get him yet, no, he's still at large.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bornagainpenguin on Friday September 29 2017, @12:16AM (9 children)
How the hell do these people get clearance again?
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 29 2017, @12:30AM
I'm pretty sure that is classified.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 29 2017, @12:34AM
They're in intelligence... Why would you want people who are interested in watching fox?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday September 29 2017, @02:22AM (6 children)
See this [soylentnews.org] above.
Also, she's pretty much the typical petulant linguist cow. Linguists are their own special breed of military asshole, kinda like how MPs/SPs are. If you met the people with clearances outside the military, you'd be even more horrified.
Imagine the perfect '50's husband found dead from autoerotic asphyxiation wearing panties, found by his own wife who had no idea. That husband is pretty much every person outside the military who has a clearance.
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Friday September 29 2017, @02:41AM
Careful around the age of 50, eth, careful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Informative) by Yog-Yogguth on Friday September 29 2017, @02:51AM (2 children)
You left out “…wearing panties around his head, causing the suffocation, and they're his own, found by…”.
I had a clearance once when military (not US), nothing impressive, these days I'm fairly certain I'm somewhere between "Extremist" and "Terrorist" or both and maybe also in a special category for people accidentally bumbling into and stepping on the toes of people that are busily trying to stare goats to death or who are fishing for sea monsters with radioactive bait. They ought to have a category like that, maybe named "Ignore this moron"? :D
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Friday September 29 2017, @09:18AM (1 child)
I've also held clearance (again, not in the US, but in a country with data-sharing agreements with the US) that let me see various bits of top-secret information. The thing that always seems to be missing from press descriptions of clearance kinds is that all classified information is compartmentalised. Just having clearance meant that I was allowed to see anything classified below 'minister's eye's only' that I could demonstrate a need to know. It wasn't like there was a big list of all stuff marked 'top secret' that I could browse. The different classifications really just meant the level of oversight on this. Stuff that was restricted, I could pretty much read at will. Stuff that was secret, I could see if my line manager thought it related to something I was working on. Top secret stuff needed approval from a couple of people to check that I really needed it.
The failure in the US with Snowden and Winner seems to be that they've been completely failing at compartmentalisation, more than anything else.
sudo mod me up
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday September 29 2017, @04:47PM
Yes, exactly. There are two core tenets to access to classified information: (1) Having the security clearance and (2) having the need-to-know.
The problem was that safeguards which were in place in other NSA facilities were not in place in Hawaii, where Snowden reportedly pilfered the documents using a scraper.
Now, even a plebe like me knows that Hawaii is a hub for Chinese intelligence activity against the US. If there's any goddamn facilities which need to be hardened, they're the ones in Hawaii.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 29 2017, @04:39AM (1 child)
Quite imaginative, aren't we ethanol-fueled?
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday September 29 2017, @04:48AM
If you can offer a more accurate analogy, we're waiting for it. Anytime now, sweetheart.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Kalas on Friday September 29 2017, @04:53AM (1 child)
Looks like she sure did win a hefty dose of reality.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 29 2017, @03:42PM
Took me a few times reading it to figure out what the hell was going on. Who names their kid "Reality"? :P
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 29 2017, @05:07AM
When people speak of the CIA or NSA and other such groups, we often forget that groups are just collections of individuals. When we yield our privacy and personal information to these groups (I have nothing to hide!) these are examples of some of the sorts of individuals that you're yielding that information to. The biggest lie is people convincing themselves that organizations are somehow organizations and not collections of people. Imagine how this person, who effectively chose to throw away her life because... they had Fox News on TV, would have reacted if she found out that an acquaintance or neighbor or whatever else was engaged in politics she did not 'approve' of.