The Justice Department released the below
information:
Reality Winner, 26, of Augusta, Georgia, was
sentenced today to five years and three months in prison for removing
classified national defense material from a government facility and mailing it
to a news outlet. 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. The
parties agreed that a sentence of imprisonment for 63 months followed by a
three-year term of supervised release is the appropriate disposition of the
case. The Court accepted the plea agreement at sentencing.
The sentence was announced by
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney
Bobby L. Christine for the Southern District of Georgia, and Special Agent in
Charge J.C. Hacker of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office. U.S. District Court
Chief Judge J. Randal Hall presided over the hearing.
“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
Demers. “Today, she has been held accountable for her crime thanks to the
hard work of the Department’s prosecutors and agents. I hope their
success will deter others from similar unlawful action in the future.”
“This defendant used her position
of trust to steal and divulge closely guarded intelligence information,” said
U.S. Attorney Christine. “Her betrayal of the United States put at risk
sources and methods of intelligence gathering, thereby offering advantage to
our adversaries. This U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to work with the
National Security Division, law enforcement and our intelligence partners to
ensure such violations result in swift, certain prosecution.”
“When obtaining Top Secret
clearance as a government employee or contractor, the handling of top secret
information is clearly spelled out along with the ramifications of mishandling
such information,” said Special Agent in Charge Hacker. “Revealing
sources and methods to the advantage of our adversaries and to the detriment of
our country will never be acceptable and the FBI and Department of Justice will
spare no effort to prosecute and punish anyone who would do so.”
Winner was a contractor assigned
to a U.S. government agency facility in Georgia. She had been employed at the
facility since on or about Feb. 13, 2017, and held a TOP SECRET//Sensitive
Compartmented (SCI) clearance during that time. Prior to that position,
Winner had served in the U.S. Air Force from 2010-2016 and held a TOP
SECRET//SCI security clearance.
Evidence presented at the change
of plea hearing established that on or about May 9, 2017, Winner printed an
intelligence report that was classified at the TOP SECRET//SCI level, and she
removed it from the facility where she worked. Information may be
classified as TOP SECRET if its unauthorized disclosure can reasonably be
expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the
United States. Later on May 9, Winner 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.
Indeed, Winner, in an interview with the FBI
on June 3, 2017, admitted knowing at the time she stole and transmitted the
intelligence report that it contained information about intelligence sources
and methods, which information she knew was valuable to adversaries of the
United States. Further, the information contained in the intelligence
report had not been released to the public at the time Winner retained it and
transmitted it to the online news outlet. Winner, who had received
training regarding the proper handling, marking, transportation, and storage of
classified information, knew that she was not permitted to remove the
intelligence report from the facility where she worked, retain it, or transmit
it to the news outlet.
The investigation of this case
was conducted by the FBI. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S.
Attorney Jennifer Solari of the Southern District of Georgia, and Deputy Chief
Julie A. Edelstein and Trial Attorneys David C. Aaron and Amy Larson of the
National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
