A federal court in New York City has sentenced a former CIA officer, Joshua Adam Schulte, to 40 years in prison for a range of charges, including espionage, computer hacking, and the transmission of stolen information to WikiLeaks. This incident is reportedly one of the largest data breaches in U.S. history, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York.
Schulte’s actions involved providing WikiLeaks with an extensive document of over 8,500 pages, revealing information on the CIA’s infiltration of Apple and Android software, as well as smart TVs. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams emphasized that Schulte’s actions were a betrayal of the country, constituting some of the most significant acts of espionage in American history. Schulte’s motivations were attributed to revenge against the CIA for its response to his security breaches while employed there.
Prosecutors argued that the released material had a severe impact on the CIA’s intelligence-gathering capabilities, posing threats to personnel, projects, and documents and causing millions of dollars in damage to the organization. Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen stated that Schulte’s actions directly endangered the lives of CIA personnel and amounted to a “Digital Pearl Harbor,” drawing parallels to the infamous 1941 Japanese attack on U.S. naval forces in Hawaii.
Despite Schulte’s denial of the accusations, he was found guilty in three separate trials held in 2020, 2022, and 2023. The charges included illegally gathering and transmitting national defense information, making false statements, and receiving and transporting child pornography.
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