June 19 (UPI) — A former CIA employee was charged with leaking classified information, the Justice Department announced on Monday.
Joshua Schulte, 29, was indicted on 13 counts in connection with his alleged theft of classified national defense information from the CIA and transmitting it to an outside organization.
Several news reports indicate that organization was Wikileaks.
“As alleged, Schulte utterly betrayed this nation and downright violated his victims,” Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney, Jr. said in a statement. “As an employee of the CIA, Schulte took an oath to protect this country, but he blatantly endangered it by the transmission of Classified Information.”
Schulte is also charged with possessing child pornography, which federal agents allegedly found when they raided his New York City apartment in August 2017 in relation to the current charges.
“To further endanger those around him, Schulte allegedly received, possessed, and transmitted thousands of child pornographic photos and videos,” Sweeney said. “In an effort to protect this nation against crimes such as these, the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division in New York will continue to keep our mission at the forefront of our investigations in protecting the American public.”
Schulte is suspected of leaking the “Vault 7” documents, which revealed the CIA’s ability to hack into a wide range of electronic devices, including smartphones and smart TVs.
He previously worked at the CIA’s Engineering Development Group, which produced malware used to break into the computers of terrorism suspects and other targets.
