Since 2016, former CIA officer Joshua Schulte has been charged with passing classified information to WikiLeaks. In 2022, Schulte was convicted of illegally obtaining and transmitting national defense information, obstructing a criminal investigation and grand jury proceedings, and other charges. He was also convicted in 2023 of receiving, possessing, and transmitting child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Former CIA officer Joshua Schulte. Photo: LinkedIn
He worked as a computer engineer at the CIA's Cyber Intelligence Center and created cyber tools that could extract data from computers without being detected.
“Joshua Schulte betrayed his country by committing some of the most flagrant and heinous espionage crimes in American history,” prosecutor Damian Williams said in a statement. “He caused significant damage to our national security.”
"When the FBI caught up with Schulte, he did more damage to the nation by waging what he described as 'information warfare' to make public top-secret information. And all the while, Schulte collected thousands of videos and images of sickened children being abused for his own satisfaction," Williams added.
"Today Joshua Schulte has been properly punished not only for his treason against his country but also for possessing a significant amount of horrific child pornography," said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Smith. "His actions were clearly serious. The sentence imposed reflects the disturbing nature of his crimes."
A sketch of the courtroom on March 4, 2020. Joshua Schulte (center) sits at the defense table with his attorneys during jury deliberations in New York. Photo: AP
Schulte’s problems at the CIA began in the summer of 2015 when he had a conflict with management and a co-worker. The conflict grew so large that a state court issued an injunction to curb workplace conflict between co-workers. Following the lawsuit, both Schulte and his co-worker were reassigned.
Schulte's anger was further fueled when the CIA wanted to hire a contractor to develop a cyber tool similar to the one Schulte had deployed.
A year later, Schulte stole the cyber tools and source code and passed them to WikiLeaks, according to court records. He then attempted to cover his tracks, erasing any evidence of his access to the CIA’s computer systems.
Court records show that Schulte left the CIA in November 2016. But in March 2017, WikiLeaks published the first part of the Vault 7 leak, which stemmed from two programs that Schulte had access to and stole information from.
WikiLeaks issued a press release accompanying the information, saying the data was provided anonymously by someone who wanted to raise policy questions, specifically whether the CIA overstepped its authority in hacking to gather intelligence.
Schulte, who is also accused of lying to CIA and FBI investigators in an attempt to cover up evidence, was arrested on child pornography charges in August 2017. He was indicted on data breach-related charges a few months later.
Ngoc Anh (according to CNN)
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