An intelligence contractor was charged with sending a classified report about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election to the news media, the Justice Department announced Monday, the first criminal leak case under President Trump. The case showed the department’s willingness to crack down on leaks, as Mr. Trump has called for in complaining that they are undermining his administration. His grievances have contributed to a sometimes tense relationship with the intelligence agencies he now oversees. The Justice Department announced the case against the contractor, Reality Leigh Winner, 25, about an hour after the national-security news outlet The Intercept published the apparent document, a May 5 intelligence report from the National Security Agency. The report described two cyberattacks by Russia’s military intelligence unit, the G.R.U. — one in August against a company that sells voter registration-related software and another, a few days before the election, against 122 local election officials.
The Intercept said the N.S.A. report had been submitted anonymously. But shortly after its article was published, the Justice Department said that the F.B.I. had arrested Ms. Winner at her house in Augusta, Ga., on Saturday. It also said she had confessed to an agent that she had printed out a May 5 intelligence file and mailed it to an online news outlet.
It was not immediately clear who is serving as the defense lawyer for Ms. Winner, who has been charged under the Espionage Act.
An accompanying F.B.I. affidavit said she has worked for Pluribus International Corporation at a government facility in Georgia since Feb. 13. While it did not identify the agency or the facility, the N.S.A. uses Pluribus contractors and opened a branch facility in the suburbs outside Augusta in 2012.
Full Article: Intelligence Contractor Is Charged in First Leak Case Under Trump – The New York Times.