It's the first criminal lead case under President Donald Trump, who's vowed to crack down on government workers who illegally leak information. The Justice Department announced the espionage charges against a government intelligence contractor shortly after the online news outlet The Intercept published what it said was an n essay report detailing Russian hacking efforts in the days before the
twenty six election. The twenty five year old contractor, a former US Air Force linguist Reality Lee winner, has been working at the firm for less than four months, joining us as Patricia Hutado, who covered Manhattan federal courts for Bloomberg and wrote this story, pat did this leaked material
contain new confidential information? Yeah, according to the government, it was a top secret report that if it got into if it dissonated publicly, would harm the United States because of them the information obtained, And so they're they're holding that in very high regard, of high concern that it got leaked out to the media and published. Patty, what do we know about how the government tracked down this
woman as the alleged leaker. Well, apparently they became they were notified when the Intercept it says it doesn't identify the news organization, but they said they were UH contacted. A government contractor was contacted by a online media reporter saying that they had obtained in the mail some documents and they wanted to tell them about it and have them review it to to determine if they were legitimate
and UM real. And so the contractor UH immediately became concerned about what the data was on the allegedly on about in subject matter and basically asked the media report of the online reporter to take a photo copy and center copy to see what it looked like. And based on what that document was sent to them, they determined and they were also told that it was mail from Augusta, Georgia that they'd obtained in the mail from Augusta, Georgia. UM,
the government tracked back on the document. Apparently only six people ever viewed this document, and UM only hers was the web the desktop that they had downloaded and printed out the material and then they suggested was folded and carried out on her person out of the office patty.
She had top secret security clearance and worked at this government contractor for less than four months, and she admitted to FBI agents that she leaked the information to the news outlet, knowing quote the contents of the reporting could be used to the injury of the US and to the advantage of a foreign nation. According to the warrant, is there something seriously wrong with the process for getting tops curity clearance if something like this happens so fast,
you know, it's unclear. I mean, she had worked as for the United States arm Air Force for um at least four to five years prior to this, and she was an airman. She had worked as a linguist. She apparently came with great credentials. Now we're now seeing social media postings that she's put out where she sounds like she's got, you know, opinions and political beliefs, and whether or not that was vetted. Um, she was working for a legitimate government contractor for this U S intelligence agency
that's unnamed. So maybe people are going to go back now and review. Maybe the vetting process needs to be a little more thorough before they scrub someone, to make sure that they don't, you know, have someone that might have some kind of animus or some opinions. Donald Trump has spent a lot of time talking and tweeting about cracking down on leakers of of UH top secret information.
Do we anticipate that this case is going to be the first of many or is this just a one off where UH somebody perhaps was so slopping the way that that she leaked the information that it was easy for for the FBI to tracker down. Well, we don't know.
I mean, what we do know is that the obviously the report was actually giving UM ballast to UM the argument that Russians, the Russian government had probably hacked into UM election systems, and this was kind of indicating there were some content they were outside city contractors that worked with the election system that had been compromised by a Russian UH by Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate or g r U. So this is like a real Russian
hacking governmental agency. So UM, whether or not the you know, the Trump administration wants to crack down on more people that dallas to the argument that the Russians hacked the US election and we're trying to influence it remains to be seen. We do know that the Obama administration really clamped down on hackers and during the you know, the the Obama administration coming down against people like Chelsea Manning and others for leaking material to the to the press
and making it public. And Patty, how much time is she facing if convicted. Um, Well, it's unclear. I mean, she did confess to the crime, but she's still at this point. She has an appearance on Thursday, um, and it's a detention hearing, so the government moves to keep her in custody, saying that she's too much of a threat. Right now, they're apparently going through all of her computer records and all of it. They've done a search of her home in Augusta, and she could face up to
ten years in prison if she's convicted. Well, I'm sure that you will be at that hearing and giving us the news from and thanks so much for being on Bloomberg Law. That's Patricia Hurtado. She covers the Manhattan federal courts for Bloomberg