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Intelligence contractor charged with leaks

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Washington: A US intelligence contractor has been charged with leaking to a news organisation classified National Security Agency material about Russian interference in the 2016 American presidential election, the Justice Department and officials said.


The Justice Department on Monday charged Reality Leigh Winner, 25, with removing classified material from a government facility in Georgia. It said she was arrested on Saturday.


It was one of the first concrete efforts by the administration of President Donald Trump to crack down on leaks to the media.


The charges were announced less than an hour after The Intercept published a top-secret document from the NSA that described Russian efforts to launch cyber attacks on at least one US voting software supplier and send “spear-phishing” e-mails, or targeted e-mails, that try to trick a recipient into clicking on a malicious link to steal data, to more than 100 local election officials days before the November 8 US election.


While the charges do not name the publication, a US official with knowledge of the case said Winner was charged with leaking the NSA report to The Intercept. A second official confirmed The Intercept document was authentic and did not dispute that the charges were directly tied to it.


The Justice Department declined to comment on the case beyond its filing. The Federal Bureau of Investigation did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Winner’s mother also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. — Reuters


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