Last August, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Harold T. Martin III, a former contractor for the US National Security Agency (NSA), on charges that he stole highly classified information — including computer code — related to the NSA’s ability to hack into foreign government networks. Martin was a contractor for Booz Allen Hamilton, as was Edward Snowden who disclosed highly classified information about the NSA’s surveillance activities in 2013. Snowden has been charged with theft of government property worth more than US$1,000 and two counts of violating the Espionage Act.
Jo Becker, Adam Goldman, Michael E. Schmidt, and Matt Apuzzo writing for the New York Times, who broke the story, report that court documents reveal that the FBI discovered “thousands of pages of documents and dozens of computers or other electronic devices” containing classified information. The classified information, some of which was produced in 2014, included computer code.
According to the Times report, after more than a month the FBI is still at a loss to “say with certainty whether Mr. Martin leaked the information, passed them on to a third party or whether he simply downloaded them.” The US Justice Department unsealed its complaint against Martin after the Times notified the government of its intention to publish its story about Martin.
In reaction to the Snowden disclosures, the Barack Obama administration has tightened security measures, renovated the background check process, reduced by 17 percent the number of government employees with access to classified information, and created a “task force that sets and monitors security requirements for agencies that handle classified information,” according to the Times account. None of these measures would have stopped Martin’s actions.
It remains unclear if Martin’s actions are related to the online disclosure of NSA hacking tools last August. While he was arrested within a week after the Shadow Brokers disclosure, that disclosure contained information from a year earlier than the documents Martin is alleged to have stolen.
According to a Justice Department media release, at least six classified documents produced in 2014 were found:
“The complaint alleges that among the classified documents found in the search were six classified documents obtained from sensitive intelligence and produced by a government agency in 2014. These documents were produced through sensitive government sources, methods, and capabilities, which are critical to a wide variety of national security issues. The disclosure of the documents would reveal those sensitive sources, methods, and capabilities.”
There’s lots of ink and electrons spilling in the corporate media about theft and stealing by both Martin and Snowden. It’s important to remember that while both have been charged, neither has been convicted of any crime.
If convicted, Martin faces a maximum of 11 years in prison — one year for mishandling classified material and 10 years for theft of government property worth more than US$1,000. If he’s found to have disclosed the classified material, he could face charges under the Espionage Act carrying much harsher penalties. Martin remains detained by the US government.