Reality Winner, a 26-year-old contractor from Augusta, Georgia, has been sentenced to 63 months in prison for removing and transmitting classified national defense material to a news outlet.
On May 9, 2017, Winner printed a classified intelligence report that was classified at the TOP SECRET//Sensitive Compartmented (SCI) level and removed it from the facility where she worked. She later unlawfully transmitted a hard copy of the intelligence report to an online news outlet.
The intelligence report revealed the sources and methods used to acquire the information contained in the report, which, if disclosed, would be harmful to the United States and valuable to our adversaries.
Winner, who had received training regarding the proper handling of classified information, knowingly compromised the security of the report by stealing and transmitting it to the online news outlet.
“The defendant schemed to take and disclose classified information she had sworn to protect – and then did so almost as soon as she had the chance,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers. “Today, she has been held accountable for her crime thanks to the hard work of the Department’s prosecutors and agents.”
Winner was a contractor assigned to a U.S. government agency facility in Georgia and held a TOP SECRET//Sensitive Compartmented (SCI) clearance during her employment. Prior to her position as a contractor, Winner had served in the U.S. Air Force from 2010-2016 and held a TOP SECRET//SCI security clearance.
“This defendant used her position of trust to steal and divulge closely guarded intelligence information,” said U.S. Attorney Bobby L. Christine. “Her betrayal of the United States put at risk sources and methods of intelligence gathering, thereby offering advantage to our adversaries.”
Winner was arrested by the FBI at her home in Augusta on June 3, 2017. The parties filed a plea agreement on June 21, in which Winner agreed to plead guilty to the one-count indictment charging her with unlawful retention and transmission of national defense information.
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Key Facts
- State: Georgia
- Category: Cybercrime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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