Schulte was convicted of leaking the spy agency’s most valuable intelligence tools to WikiLeaks, in one of the largest heists in CIA history.
A former software engineer for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been found guilty of leaking classified information to the WikiLeaks website, in one of the biggest heists in the history of the US spy agency. .
Joshua Schulte, 33, was found guilty Wednesday by jurors in Manhattan federal court on eight counts of espionage and one count of obstructing the so-called Vault 7 leak.
Vault 7 is a collection malware, viruses, trojans and “no day“Exploit that, once leaked, became available for use by foreign intelligence groups, hackers, and cyber extortionists around the world.
Prosecutors said Schulte, who represented himself at a month-long trial and now faces decades behind bars, was a resentful employee and leaked 8,761 documents to harm for the agency.
“Schulte is a CIA programmer with access to some of the country’s most valuable intelligence-gathering cyber tools used to fight terrorist organizations and other malign influences across the globe. globally,” Damian Williams, US attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement.
“When Schulte began harboring a grudge against the CIA, he surreptitiously collected those tools and made them available to WikiLeaks, exposing the public to some of our most important intelligence tools — and thus, the our enemies.
Williams added: “Today, Schulte was convicted of one of the most brazen and damaging acts of espionage in American history,” in undermining U.S. efforts to combat “organizations.” terrorist organization and other ill effects” around the world.
Statement by US Attorney Damian Williams on espionage convictions of former CIA programmer Joshua Adam Schultehttps://t.co/uWtfu4Cyzl
– US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) July 13, 2022
WikiLeaks began publishing leaked documents in March 2017.
The US Justice Department said Schulte resigned from the CIA in November 2016 and was motivated to leak the documents because he was unhappy with the way management treated him.
Schulte countered that he was framed and made a scapegoat for the leak because of his problems with management.
He was initially arrested in August 2017 on unrelated charges and has been jailed since revoking his bail four months later.
The Justice Department announced the WikiLeaks-related charges in June 2018.
Last month, the British government approved the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrives in the US. He faces federal criminal charges in Virginia for his alleged role in publishing secret military documents in 2010.
