Former CIA employee sentenced to 40 years in prison for data leak and child pornography charges
(CNN) — A former CIA employee, Joshua Schulte, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison after being found guilty of the largest data leak in the agency’s history and on child pornography charges. The sentencing was announced this Thursday by the Prosecutor’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Schulte was convicted of illegally collecting and transmitting national defense information, obstructing a criminal investigation, grand jury proceeding, and receiving, possessing, and transporting child pornography.
As a computer engineer at the CIA’s Cyber Intelligence Center, Schulte had access to cyber tools that could obtain data from computers without detection. He is accused of delivering classified data to WikiLeaks in 2016. The data breach led to the publication of the first installment of Vault 7 leaks by WikiLeaks in March 2017.
US Attorney Damian Williams stated, “Joshua Schulte betrayed his country by committing some of the most brazen and heinous espionage crimes in American history. He caused untold damage to our national security in his pursuit of revenge against the CIA for its response to Schulte’s security breaches while he was employed there.”
In addition to the national security breaches, Schulte was found guilty of collecting thousands of videos and images of children subjected to sickening abuse for his personal gratification.
FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Smith highlighted the seriousness of Schulte’s actions and the magnitude of the disruptive and damaging threat posed by his criminal conduct. Schulte’s problems at the CIA began in 2015 when he started falling out with management and a co-worker and later filed a restraining order against the co-worker in state court.
Investigators alleged that Schulte became enraged when CIA officials wanted to hire a contractor to develop a cyber tool similar to the one he was creating, which led to a dispute and ultimately Schulte’s decision to steal cyber tools and source code and transfer them to WikiLeaks.
Schulte was arrested in August 2017 on child pornography charges and was later indicted on charges related to the data breach. The sentencing represents a significant outcome in the case, reflecting the severity of the crimes committed by Schulte and the detrimental impact on national security.
In conclusion, the sentencing of Joshua Schulte marks the conclusion of a complex and damaging case that has raised questions about the accountability and security measures within the CIA and the potential threats posed by insider breaches.