The Daily Mail offers a piece
on the case of a new NSA leaker, Reality Winner.
Reality Winner portrayed
little emotion in court Thursday as she was denied bond in her federal
espionage case after the government alleged that she may have stolen other top
secret information and poses an ongoing risk to national security.
The Air Force veteran, 25, is
accused of mailing a classified report on a Russian military intelligence
cyber-attack in 2016 to a news website.
She entered a plea of not
guilty before Judge Brian K. Epps at U.S. District Court in downtown Augusta,
Georgia on Thursday afternoon after she was charged with a single count of
'willful retention and transmission of national defense information'.
Winner was brought into
court, in an orange jumpsuit with her hair braided in a top knot, by two
federal marshalls. Her hands were cuffed behind her back and she appeared to
stand to attention when addressed by the judge.
She spoke only to respond:
'Yes, your honor' in a soft voice.
The prosecution made its case
for Winner to be detained based on evidence that one prosecutor called
'downright frightening'.
The prosecution alleged that
Winner is 'extremely intelligent' and may have removed information from a 'Top
Secret computer on a USB drive' while she was on active duty and stated that
the thumb drive has not been located.
You can read the rest of the
piece and view photographs via the below link:
She's going to play the "cute, blonde, and young" card in her defense, and I suppose the SPL's will champion her as a patriot, but I hope she spends some hard time behind bars. If we had "leaked" classified material when we were on the job, we would probably still be in the slammer. She, however, is the tip of the iceberg. In other words, she is one of many. Let's hope the many also get caught and prosecuted. Am I being too severe?
ReplyDeleteTim,
ReplyDeleteNo, you're not being too severe.
Although she is young, she clearly knew what she was doing and that it was illegal and damaged national security.
Obama commuted former Army private Manning's sentence. I don't see Trump doing this for her.
Paul
But what happens after Trump? Hmmm. And God knows what a jury will decide!
DeleteWe shall see...
Delete