Ex-U.S. NSA contractor to plead guilty to massive theft of secret data

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

#U.S. JANUARY 3, 2018 / 8:29 PM / UPDATED 18 MINUTES AGO

Ex-U.S. NSA contractor to plead guilty to massive theft of secret data

Reuters Staff
3 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former U.S. National Security Agency contractor has agreed to plead guilty to stealing classified information, according to court filings on Wednesday, in what may have been the largest heist of U.S. government secrets in history.

Harold Martin is scheduled to plead guilty to one count of willful retention of national defense information at a federal court in Baltimore on Jan. 22, according to the filings.

Prosecutors said Martin, who was indicted last February, spent up to 20 years stealing highly sensitive government material from the U.S. intelligence community related to national defense, collecting a trove of secrets he hoarded at his home in Glen Burnie, Maryland.

Authorities said they seized 50 terabytes of data from Martin’s home, which officials said could be the biggest theft of classified information in U.S. history.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-nsa/ex-u-s-nsa-contractor-to-plead-guilty-to-massive-theft-of-secret-data-idUSKBN1ET05R

[Frustratedlady]

1. Why does the government even bother to classify anything?

They sure have a lot of thefts. Anyone watching this stuff?