07 Oct 2016 , 14:45
The arrest of a former National Security Agency contractor for allegedly stealing classified information represents the second known case since 2013 of a government contractor being publicly accused of removing secret data from the intelligence agency. The latest case comes as the NSA has worked to reform security after the Edward Snowden disclosures, especially with regard to insider threats.
Harold Thomas Martin III, 51, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, was arrested by the FBI in August after federal prosecutors say he illegally removed highly classified information and stored the material in his home and car. A defence attorney said Martin did not intend to betray his country.
The arrest was not made public until Wednesday when the Justice Department unsealed a criminal complaint that accused Martin of having been in possession of top-secret information that could cause “exceptionally grave danger” to national security if disclosed.
It’s not yet clear when the documents were removed. But the fact that Snowden and Martin – both working for Booz Allen Hamilton as contractors for the NSA – were accused of leaving the NSA with highly classified documents raises questions about the effectiveness and adequacy of the intelligence agency’s internal security controls. The NSA, which put security upgrades into place following the Snowden disclosures, has declined to comment.
“One key thing we don’t have visibility into now is how he was caught because that would provide some insight into whether the reforms that were put in post-Snowden were effective or not or their relative efficacy,” said Rajesh De, who was the NSA’s general counsel when the Snowden story broke. Snowden’s 2013 theft of documents that were leaked to journalists revealed the NSA’s bulk collection of millions of Americans’ phone records.
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the senior Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement that “it is painfully clear that the intelligence community still has much to do to institutionalise reforms designed to protect (U.S. government secrets) from insider threats.”
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the federal government has made important changes since Snowden’s disclosures. He said the government has reduced the number of people who need security clearances by 17 percent and has enhanced the quality of background checks. Martin’s arrest appears to illustrate the difficulty of guarding against an insider threat given that employees, by virtue of their clearance level and jobs, must be
