“A former National Security Agency contractor on Thursday pleaded guilty to stealing secret defense information over two decades in what legal experts have described as the biggest breach of classified information in U.S. history.”
Long-time Slashdot reader mencik quotes USA Today:
In his plea deal in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Harold Thomas Martin III admitted to removing highly classified digital and hard copy documents, then storing them in his home and car from the late 1990s through 2016. Prosecutors say there is no indication Martin ever shared the stolen secrets. His defense attorneys say he simply hoarded the information… One of his lawyers previously described Martin as a “compulsive hoarder” who took home work documents…
Martin, who held multiple security clearances while working at government agencies as a private contractor, said he knew stealing the documents risked the country’s security. He pleaded guilty on Thursday to one felony count of willful retention of national defense information. He could be sentenced to nine years in prison.
Martin also told a federal judge that he’d been diagnosed with ADHD. “His actions were the product of mental illness,” his federal defenders’ statement said. “Not treason.”
of this story at Slashdot.
Source:: Slashdot