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NSA Contractor Arrested in Possible New Theft of Secrets (nytimes.com)
The New York Times, citing senior law enforcement and intelligence officials, reports today that the FBI secretly arrested a National Security Agency contractor in recent weeks (Editor's note: the link could be paywalled; alternate source). The newspaper adds that the FBI is currently investigating whether the contractor (identified as male) stole and disclosed highly classified computer codes developed to "hack into the networks of foreign governments." From the report: The theft raises the embarrassing prospect that for the second time in three years an insider has managed to steal highly damaging secret information from the N.S.A. In 2013, Edward J. Snowden, who was also a contractor for the agency, took a vast trove of documents that were later passed to journalists, exposing N.S.A. surveillance programs in the United States and abroad. The information believed stolen by this contractor -- who like Mr. Snowden worked for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, which is responsible for building and operating many of the agency's most sensitive cyberoperations -- appears to be different in nature from Mr. Snowden's theft.
Whew, for a minute there I was afraid we had a rogue Apache attack helicopter!
This guy sounds like a true patriot assisting the American people.
Will the consulting firm take the heat? and will this force them to move more people in house?
The poster child for the military industrial complex
Is this someone being nailed for the Equation Group code leak? Or something else?
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
Thank Mammon for outsourcing basic government functions to the lowest bidder, we could have been sold out by an incompetent do-nothing government employee!
How? Try to email them to himself via Yahoo?
BAH doesn't do clearance investigations - the USG does through the Defense Security Service (DSS). Blaming the contractor is BS. The contractor cuts paychecks, handles vacation and health benefits, does the hiring and firing based on USG guidance, and sets business hours based on USG guidance. The rest is the USG - the contracting officer is in control, and after that the functional USG lead directing the effort.
This is a useful dodge for the USG appointees (aka civilian employees) to avoid personal responsibility for what is their failure. Having the USG hire the people as civilians would make sure of two things:
a. The best qualified would avoid the jobs like the plague due to low pay.
b. You'd get a lot of transferees and priority placements from elsewhere in the USG with inadequate qualifications, but qualifying for the job due to time in service or veterans preferences.
So that's why both answers are no.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
Now we cant act all indignant when Russia hacks US!!!
Whoever wrote that summary could have read any one of thousands of reports listing his actual name at least...
Assuming this is a genuine crook -- stealing secrets and selling them or disclosing them to private parties... foreign/domestic/whatever. Then arresting him is pretty much the expected course of action.
The interesting angle to me at least, is that it really skewers the idea that Snowden put us at risk. For me, the biggest counter argument to that has always been 'if Snowden could do it so could others'. The fact that Snowden did it altruistically and gave the information to the public means we know about it; how many others have been doing it, that haven't been caught, that have been disclosing it to foreign governments, selling it, etc.
Now we have some real proof of what really should have been obvious -- that yeah, other people have been doing it too. All the "secrets" Snodwn revealed to the public, and in the process our 'adversaries' ...so what?? They probably already had it from their own pet NSA employees & contractors. It would be foolish to assume they didn't.
GS-13 pay isn't "low" and it's pretty damn nice for a job in which you effectively can't be fired. We contract this stuff out because we've found that GS system retains the incompetent, and consequently everything that requires competence and no legal authority has been outsourced. Don't worry, GS-13's don't get held liable for any decision they make beyond whether or not to show up occasionally this week.
There can only be one Snowden. Everyone else is a pretender.
"Theft."
"Stole."
I can't get out of my mind the fact that these words are being (mis)used in exactly the same way as when the RIAA and its kind lie about lost profits and bribe legislators. A story told with such heavy bias makes it difficult to take it or its authors seriously.
I'll bet this is the Shadow Brokers leak.
A rather depressing but plausible case would be that he tried to use the official channels to report unethical behavior regarding said hacks (or other issues) and was instantly flagged as a potential threat due to all the high profile information leaks.
the contractor (identified as male) stole
I thought we had to be concerned with how the contract identifies zis self. I am still trying to get with the program here.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
I'm sure the FBI will add an intent clause not included in the law, just like it did with Hillary Clinton. So this contractor has nothing to worry about. It is not like there are different standards for the politically connected and everyone else.
Respect the Constitution
"codes" is an exclusively Indian usage. And it's fairly harsh on the ears of any non-Indian programmers.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
N/T
The information believed stolen by this contractor — who like Mr. Snowden worked for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, which is responsible for building and operating many of the agency’s most sensitive cyberoperations — appears to be different in nature from Mr. Snowden’s theft.
All we really know is that this guy got busted before he could act. It saddens me to write this but the FBI giving their word about the matter doesn't mean it's the truth because Comey has destroyed the FBI's credibility. :(
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
I wish more people and companies were concerned about security so that we could start taking a serious look into solving the problem. Unfortunately everybody jumps on the latest and greatest instead of considering how terribly insecure any of it is. Facebook, Microsoft Widows, and even GNU/Linux are all great examples.
What we need to do is start thinking smaller. Instead of jumping on that quad core 16GB ram system maybe we should think about what we can actually achieve with fewer resources and standardize on a minimal set of components that can be properly audited. Not just at the software level, but hardware too.
I'm glad to see one crowd sourcing campaign and project that aims to do just this even if it has a long way to go (as far as the software is concerned in the way of minimizing bloat, etc) and it has already largely succeeded in part at its core mission thanks to the project's primary sponsor ThinkPenguin (funded the first two housing designs and standard) and a groundswell of support from those crowd funding the first manufacturing run of devices based around the EOMA68 standard.
Basically EOMA68 didn't focus on the 'high end', but is instead a standard around which modular devices can be built. The first computer card based around EOMA68 is a simple (to today's desktop/laptop standards anyway) All Winner A20 dual core CPU with 2GB memory. The standard reduces the cost of designing and manufacturing devices that can be secured (quad core cards are coming that'll support the same housings, ie what the EOMA68 standard is for, one housing is a laptop and another a desktop, but others are to follow). The complete set of source codes available for all the components going into both the housings and computer cards designed around the EOMA68 standard. This includes keyboard controllers, LCD controllers, CPUs, and so on. All the places that we know at least one government has hidden backdoors and a 2nd we're reasonably confident has.
for instance, ex-military, which presumably would be copacetic with maintaining operational security. anybody with bingo-number resumes can qualify as a contractor, able to take a higher bid with no remorse.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Wasn't he doing his job to lie, cheat, and steal?
And ignore the US Constitution and spy on American citizens without a specific court order and warrant?
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
The government seems to have the same accountants my company does...effectively paying twice for an employee but coming out ahead because OpEx.
Why in the world would the government hire contractors to work in the intelligence agencies? Even if they have their clearances, etc. you exercise less control over a contractor than you would your own employee. I saw a post above saying GS workers can't be fired and the government can't pay talented people enough -- I'd be tempted to take the "can't be fired" with a grain of salt given most /.'er's political leanings, but I could be wrong. Hiring contractors to work on sensitive material doesn't make too much sense to me. In my IT experience, contractors tend to be much more transient than permanent employees and a whole lot less interested in doing a good job (beyond what it takes to keep getting renewed.)
To me, it would make sense to fire all the contractors, hire FTEs to replace them, and bump up a few salary grades so they can be assigned to techies. That's one thing my current company does right -- the first 2 management ranks out of 4 are assignable to technical people as well, which allows smart people to be compensated for being smart rather than having to go into full blown management-only career paths. You're expected to mentor and supervise, but the political crap gets handled by managers. If government workers really do top out at a low salary, the benefits may not make it worth sticking around. However, with the spectre of offshoring and constant downsizing, I could definitely see the attraction of a very stable job in the next 10 years or so...people have different priorities. Some want to make as much as possible, and others want to do the family thing and have a safe income to fall back on.
the emperor has no clothes. The groupthink is lies. Not all dogs go to heaven.
"violation of employment contract" seems correct to me. Of course sometimes you discover that such a crime is a less ethically problematic compared to obeying the employment contract.
Snowden did the right thing because the oversight is not/was not working. I agree that he should be held accountable for his actions, and I'm pretty sure he does also. The concern he had in seeking asylum is that he could not get a fair trial in the US, which I also agree with.
In other words, past where you said "I think Snowden did the morally right thing." there should not have been a "but".
oh fuck off. Please.
Criminal intent is a prerequisite under the due process clause.
Sorry, the law REQUIRES intent to distribute as the third test of crime.
Here we thought you knew what you are talking about.
and with the new salary pay laws that must go up
...even though she committed far worse. Typical liberals. OK for me, not for you unwashed deplorables.
Another week, another NSA leak. Ho-hum.
How about, the NSA notifies us on the weeks they don't have a data leak? That would be more efficient and effective use of the public's time. Just a thought.
Should this white male be tortured and then executed?
Well, it was "catch and release" with HRC. I'd personally skin them both.
Just another day in Paradise
Come on, guys. It's just copyright infringement, and he hadn't even distributed.
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I am serious sometimes but I'm not very good at it.