A former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee was charged Monday with stealing classified national defense information from the agency that emerged publicly in March 2017, when WikiLeaks began releasing the CIA’s hacking tools.
Joshua Adam Schulte, 29, of Manhattan, was charged in a 13-count superseding indictment returned by a grand jury. He was expected to be arraigned on the charges on Wednesday.
John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Geoffrey S. Berman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the FBI), made the announcement.
(Learn More. WikiLeaks claimed that it has acquired documents on how the CIA uses cyberweapons to spy on people around the world, including the ability to hack into smart phones and smart TVs. Courtesy of CNN and YouTube. Posted on Mar 7, 2017.)
The Indictment also charges Schulte with the receipt, possession, and transportation of child pornography, as well as criminal copyright infringement.
Schulte, who is presently detained on the child pornography charges, will be arraigned by U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty.
“Leaks of classified information pose a danger to the security of all Americans,” said Assistant Attorney General Demers.
“It adds insult to injury when, as alleged here, the leaks come from former government officials in whom Americans placed their sacred trust.”
“The National Security Division, alongside our partners in the Intelligence Community, will not waver in our commitment to pursue and hold accountable these officials, and I commend all those at the Department of Justice and the FBI who have worked diligently to investigate this matter and bring these charges.”
“Joshua Schulte, a former employee of the CIA, allegedly used his access at the agency to transmit classified material to an outside organization,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman.
“During the course of this investigation, federal agents also discovered alleged child pornography in Schulte’s New York City residence.”
“We and our law enforcement partners are committed to protecting national security information and ensuring that those trusted to handle it honor their important responsibilities.”
“Unlawful disclosure of classified intelligence can pose a grave threat to our national security, potentially endangering the safety of Americans.”
“As alleged, Schulte utterly betrayed this nation and downright violated his victims.”
“As an employee of the CIA, Schulte took an oath to protect this country, but he blatantly endangered it by the transmission of Classified Information,” added Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney, Jr.
“To further endanger those around him, Schulte allegedly received, possessed, and transmitted thousands of child pornographic photos and videos.
“In an effort to protect this nation against crimes such as these, the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division in New York will continue to keep our mission at the forefront of our investigations in protecting the American public.”
According to the Indictment, other court filings, and statements made during court proceedings:
On March 7, 2017, Wikileaks released on the Internet classified national defense material belonging to the CIA.
In 2016, Schulte, who was then employed by the CIA, stole the Classified Information from a computer network at the CIA and later transmitted it to Wikileads.
Schulte also intentionally caused damage without authorization to a CIA computer system by granting himself unauthorized access to the system, deleting records of his activities, and denying others access to the system.
Schulte subsequently made material false statements to FBI agents concerning his conduct at the CIA.
Schulte was previously arrested on August 24, 2017, on charges relating to his receipt, possession, and transportation of approximately ten thousand images and videos of child pornography.
(The Washington Post reports that a suspect held in a Manhattan jail on child pornography charges is the lead suspect in last year’s leak of CIA hacking tools to WikiLeaks. Joshua Adam Schulte was charged in August 2017 with the receipt, possession, and transportation of child pornography. He is believed to have supplied WikiLeaks with a cache of stolen Central Intelligence Agency documents. It includes a number of iOS exploits. Some were used to turn routers and televisions into surveillance devices. The publication of the “Vault 7″ documents is considered a huge embarrassment for the Central Intelligence Agency and a significant loss for its hacking arsenal. Courtesy of Wochit News and YouTube. Posted on May 15, 2018.)
In March 2017, members of the FBI had searched Schulte’s residence in New York, New York, pursuant to a search warrant and recovered, among other things, multiple computers, servers, and other portable electronic storage devices, including Schulte’s personal desktop computer.
On the Personal Computer, FBI agents found an encrypted container, which held over 10,000 images and videos of child pornography.
The Encrypted Container with the child pornography files was identified by FBI computer scientists beneath three layers of password protection on the Personal Computer.
Each layer, including the Encrypted Container, was unlocked using passwords previously used by Schulte on one of his cellphones.
Moreover, FBI agents identified Internet chat logs in which Schulte and others discussed their receipt and distribution of child pornography.
FBI agents also identified a series of Google searches conducted by Schulte in which he searched the Internet for child pornography.
Schulte, of New York, New York, is charged with one count each of the following:
- Illegal gathering of national defense information
- Illegal transmission of lawfully possessed national defense information
- Illegal transmission of unlawfully possessed national defense information
- Unauthorized access to a computer to obtain classified information
- Theft of Government property
- Unauthorized access of a computer to obtain information from a Department or Agency of the United States
- Causing transmission of a harmful computer program, information, code, or command,
- Making material false statements to representatives of the FBI
- Obstruction of justice
- Receipt of child pornography
- Possession of child pornography
- Transportation of child pornography, and
- Copyright infringement.
The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative efforts of the FBI.
The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sidhardha Kamaraju and Matthew Laroche are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorney Scott McCulloch of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
Learn More…
(Posted by TheWikiLeaksChannel on YouTube on Mar 9, 2017.)
