WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) —
A federal contractor accused of leaking classified information to the media was identified quickly after she sent a National Security Agency document to a news outlet earlier this month, according to court documents.
The Department of Justice announced Monday that Reality Leigh Winner, 25, has been charged removing defense information from a government facility and mailing it to the Intercept.
“Exceptional law enforcement efforts allowed us quickly to identify and arrest the defendant,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a statement. “Releasing classified material without authorization threatens our nation’s security and undermines public faith in government. People who are trusted with classified information and pledge to protect it must be held accountable when they violate that obligation.”
According to the complaint, Winner had been employed as a contractor with top secret clearance at a government facility in Georgia since February. On or about May 9, she allegedly printed and removed classified intelligence reporting, sending it to the Intercept days later.
The Intercept contacted the government regarding an upcoming story about the document on May 30 to confirm its authenticity. This led to an internal audit that identified only six individuals who had printed the document since it was published.
The investigation then found that Winner’s desk computer had contact with the news outlet. The complaint alleges that during an interview with the FBI, Winner confessed to intentionally printing, removing and mailing the document with knowledge that she was not authorized to do so.
“Winner further acknowledged that she was aware of the contents of the intelligence reporting and that she knew the contents of the reporting could be used to the injury of the United States and to the advantage of a foreign nation,” the complaint states.
The Intercept posted a story Monday that appears to be based on the document allegedly leaked by Winner. It states that Russian military intelligence attacked a U.S. voting software company and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials in the final days before the 2016 election.
The document also accuses Russian intelligence of executing cyber espionage operations against a U.S. company in August 2016 to obtain information on election-related software and hardware.
According to the Intercept, the National Security Agency asked that the document not be published. Some redactions were made before the site posted it at the request of intelligence agencies.
Social media posts appear to identify Winner as a former supporter of Bernie Sanders and a frequent online critic of President Trump.
“Well. People suck,” she tweeted on election night.
More recent tweets and retweets are critical of the president’s policies, public statements, and hand size.
The Daily Mail posted photos reportedly taken from Winner’s Facebook page of her working out and holding a rifle. Prior to her work with government contractor Pluribus International Corporation, she was an active-duty member of the Air Force.
Winner’s mother told the Daily Beast the arrest was surprising.
“She’s very passionate. Very passionate about her views and things like that, but she’s never to my knowledge been active in politics or any of that,” Billie Winner-Davis said in an interview with the site.
Reached by the Associated Press, Winner’s attorney said he had not seen the confession that investigators say she made.
"My client has no (criminal) history, so it's not as if she has a pattern of having done anything like this before," attorney Titus Nichols said. "She is a very good person. All this craziness has happened all of a sudden."