DOJ arrests woman, 25, for leaking info that Russia hacked voting system
Reality Leigh Winner, a 25-year-old contractor with Pluribus International Corporation, was arrested for leaking classified information to the press.
Reality Leigh Winner, a 25-year-old contractor with Pluribus International Corporation, was arrested on Saturday for leaking classified information to the press.
Winner reportedly leaked documents to The Intercept, which then published the National Security Agency documents in a report on Russian interference in the election. According to the report, operatives from GRU, Moscow’s largest foreign intelligence agency, targeted an electronic voting vendor in August 2016, with at least one employee reported to be likely compromised.
From there, the company was used in order to contact 100 other local government email addresses. In all, the disclosure found that the Russians “may have breached at least some elements of the voting system, with disconcertingly uncertain results.”
“Exceptional law enforcement efforts allowed us quickly to identify and arrest the defendant,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a Department of Justice release. “Releasing classified material without authorization threatens our nation’s security and undermines public faith in government. People who are trusted with classified information and pledge to protect it must be held accountable when they violate that obligation.”
According to the release, Winner admitted to knowingly leaking the information to the press despite knowing that it was highly classified. She also admitted to removing the report from her office to mail it to The Intercept, though the media outlet was not named in the DOJ’s release.
