01 February 2024 , 23:40
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The largest leaker of classified material in the history of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has just been sentenced to 40 years in prison this week.
Joshua Schulte, 35, was convicted of cyber espionage in July 2022 for leaking a massive amount of classified data to WikiLeaks, the site dedicated to publishing classified documents for transparency that was created by Julian Assange.
He leaked tools collectively known as Vault 7 from the CIA, and the leak was so massive that federal prosecutors called it "some of the most heinous, brazen violations of the Espionage Act in American history," according to ABC.
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Schulte was first convicted in July 2022He was charged originally with the illegal handling of classified information and obstruction of justice in a second trial — the first had ended in a hung jury.
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The data he leaked detailed the CIA's hacking of smartphones which it had been doing to move spy operations along, and the documents also showed the agency's ability to turn internet-enabled TVs and other smart devices to listen into conversations.
According to the CIA, Schulte "placed directly at risk CIA personnel, programs and assets; and jeopardized U.S. national security." Federal prosecutors likened the leak to a "digital Pearl Harbor" that left them "dead in the water." The 26 documents were first leaked on March 7, 2017.
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"The impact on the CIA was immediately catastrophic," federal prosecutors previously said. They also alleged that there was no altruistic motive to the leak, that it was simply an act of revenge against superiors who had reassigned him, revoked his IT privileges and also criticised him for annoying, wild behaviour.
But that wasn't all. In September 2023, Schulte was convicted of possessing child pornography, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. He allegedly had an encrypted cache of over 3,000 images and videos that showed the abuse of young children and that was found on his home computer.
Schulte was also convicted of possessing child pornography"Joshua Schulte has already been held accountable for endangering our nation’s security, and today’s verdict holds him accountable for endangering our nation’s children as well," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said. Those charges could garner him an extra 30 years in prison. The maximum sentencehe faced for the espionage was life.
Court documents from that case allege: "While living in Virginia in 2016, SCHULTE built a custom desktop computer, which he used to download and collect more than 15,000 images of child pornography and child erotica. SCHULTE stored his cache of child pornography in various encrypted locations on the computer. In or about November 2016, SCHULTE relocated to New York, New York, and transported his child pornography computer with him. While living in New York, New York, SCHULTE continued to stockpile child pornography from the dark web and Russian websites."