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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'".
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday June 07 2017, @11:23AM (6 children)
She clearly wasn't some kind of female James Bond. Plus if said camera was found passing thru security that would have been suspicious as hell.
Apparently she at least knew how screwed she was when the FBI came a knockin' on her door that she admitted it straight away, which is somewhat refreshing. So one can only assume this will be a simple and fast slam dunk trial followed by a long prison sentence.
That has got to be some kind of name change gag, her parents can't have been that clueless.
Have they ever paid out any money? They seem to be offering rewards for various things all the time but one never hears about them actually paying any rewards.
(Score: 1) by oakgrove on Wednesday June 07 2017, @11:42AM (3 children)
This silliness is indeed self-imposed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 07 2017, @03:32PM (2 children)
> This silliness is indeed self-imposed.
Citation?
Her mother's last name [cnn.com] is "Winner-Davis" - Davis is her stepfather's last name.
So Reality Leigh Winner is likely her given name.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 07 2017, @05:31PM
yes, and i can see her hippy parents discussing/creating the name now...i'm sure a baby is a heavy dose indeed.
(Score: 1) by oakgrove on Saturday June 10 2017, @06:55AM
She changed her first name from Sara to Reality.
>citation
Look it up yourself if you don't believe me.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Wednesday June 07 2017, @08:51PM
Reality Leigh Winner
That has got to be some kind of name change gag, her parents can't have been that clueless.
Wrong. People around that age have all kinds of weird and idiotic names these days. I've heard tons of them. There's absolutely something wrong with a large fraction of Americans in the 45-60yo age range (the age the 20-somethings' parents, the parents of the Millennials, would be now), as these are the people who picked these stupid names.
People keep deriding the Millennials for all kinds of things, but what they fail to realize is that the fault really lies with their parents for doing a lousy job of raising them and providing them a good society to live in.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 07 2017, @11:35PM
... is there is less incentive to moderate if you know you get 25 yrs whether it is one document or a disk drive of them.