Developing | Contractor named Reality Winner is charged after leak of top-secret NSA document about Russia hacking US election
NSA report depicts an operation tied closely to Moscow’s GRU intelligence directorate
A US federal contractor has been arrested in connection with a classified NSA report on Russian election interference published by the online publication The Intercept.
According to the top-secret document, Russian military intelligence conducted a cyberattack on at least one supplier of voting software and sent phishing emails containing malicious software to more than 100 local election official days before the 2016 election, The Intercept reported.
Reality Winner, a contractor with Pluribus International Corp., who has held a top-secret security clearance since at least February, made her first federal court appearance in Augusta, Georgia, Monday.
“Winner printed and improperly removed classified intelligence reporting, which contained classified national defence information from an intelligence community agency and unlawfully retained it,’’ court documents stated, adding that material was taken May 9.
“Approximately a few days later, Winner unlawfully transmitted by mail the intelligence reporting to an online news outlet.’’
