Woman Charged With Leaking Top-Secret NSA Report on Russian Hacking to Media – NBC Bay Area

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A woman was arrested for leaking a top-secret National Security Agency document that reveals details about Russian hacking's influence on the U.S. presidential election, asenior federal official told NBC News.

Reality Leigh Winner, 25, was arrested Saturday and charged with "gathering, transmitting, or losing defense information" to The Intercept. The Department of Justice said in a statement that she did this around May 9, and mailed the information shortly after.

The story published Monday features a secret NSA document that notes efforts by the Russian government to hack into a voting software company approximately a week before the election. It details tactics allegedly used by Russian intelligence to dupe U.S. government employees and officials with spear-phishing emails and Microsoft documents.

The document was classified at some of the highest levels.

The FBI said when they approached Winner she admitted to printing out the document, removing it from her place of work and mailing it to The Intercept. Winner told authorities she did this knowing the information was highly confidential.

The report is published just a days after NBC's Megyn Kelly sat down with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the hacking accusations, which Putin vehemently denies. Putin said that "it wouldn't make sense" for Russia to interfere with the election.

"Releasing classified material without authorization threatens our nations security and undermines public faith in government," said Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein in a statement. "People who are trusted with classified information and pledge to protect it must be held accountable when they violate that obligation."

Authorities were alerted to the leak on June 1. Officials contacted the FBI after The Intercept called them regarding a story involving the document.

Winner is identified as being a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation since mid-February. The NSA has a facility in Georgia.

Word of the arrest was tweeted out by the Justice Department barely an hour after The Intercept published the story.

Published 40 minutes ago | Updated 4 minutes ago

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Woman Charged With Leaking Top-Secret NSA Report on Russian Hacking to Media - NBC Bay Area

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