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Federal prosecutors have charged former NSA contractor Harold T. Martin III under the Espionage Act:
Harold T. Martin III is expected to appear at a federal courthouse in Baltimore on Friday for a hearing to consider whether he should remain in U.S. custody, as prosecutors announced in a court filing that they plan to file Espionage Act charges against him.
The FBI is investigating whether Martin may have transferred six bankers boxes' worth of paper documents and 50,000 gigabytes of electronic materials to anyone else, according to documents filed Thursday. So far, investigators said they have not found any connection to a foreign power. Martin's public defenders, James Wyda and Deborah Boardman, have said that he presents no flight risk and that "there's no evidence he intended to betray his country."
Martin, a former Navy reservist, has been in federal custody since late August. That's when FBI agents executed search warrants at his suburban Maryland home, uncovering what they describe as "overwhelming" proof he mishandled classified information. Among the materials they found: the personal information of government employees and a top-secret document "regarding specific operational plans against a known enemy of the United States and its allies," according to the court filing.
The trove of information reportedly includes hacking tools that were recently offered for sale by a group that calls itself The Shadow Brokers.
12-page court filing: United States of America v. Harold T. Martin, III
Previously:
NSA Contractor Harold Martin III Arrested
Probe of Leaked U.S. NSA Hacking Tools Examines Operative's ‘Mistake’
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Zz9zZ on Friday October 21 2016, @06:42PM
I don't this man's specific motives, but when the government is so screwed up and run by gigantic corporations; well you will have defectors. Either he didn't care about screwing over his own country because they are so terrible, or he saw a potential to make some money which was greater than his loyalty.
Perhaps if we didn't have such fucked up secrets to hide then the people would actually be proud of their country and not want to sell it out. Our "leaders" are just so stupid, but it is the worst kind of stupid. They are actually very capable and "smart", but they choose to use their abilities in the stupidest ways while thinking themselves clever.
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 21 2016, @09:26PM
I read somewhere that he copied/stole stuff because he was a plain 'ol digital-packrat. Always collecting stuff because of some perceived value and it made him feel better.
Not letting him off the hook mind you, it's just that he had this stuff for soooo long and did nothing with it, has no motivations for selling the stuff or gaining advantages. Just plain stupid for collecting such material is about it.
(Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Tuesday October 25 2016, @04:42AM
Interesting, I wonder if he had more motivation than simple hoarding syndrome.
~Tilting at windmills~