A story that looks like a movie. Joshua Schulte, a former CIA computer engineer, was found guilty by a federal jury in Manhattan of causing “one of the most daring and damaging acts of espionage in American history.”
Schulte was arrested after Wikileaks revealed in 2017 a series of confidential documents detailing the agency’s secret methods to penetrate the computer networks of foreign governments and terrorists. The story was reported by the New York Times.
The verdict comes two years after a previous jury failed to agree on eight of the ten counts. In that trial, Schulte, 33, was found guilty of contempt of court and misrepresentation to the FBI. He has now been charged with nine other counts, including gathering information on national defense and its illegal transmission.
According to the indictment, the crimes were committed by an employee so resentful of the CIA that he “disclosed to the public, and therefore to our adversaries, some of our most crucial intelligence tools.” Schulte defended himself by claiming to be a scapegoat for the failures of the CIA.