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Prosecutors Say NSA Contractor Could Flee To Foreign Power (go.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ABC News: The NSA contractor accused of stealing a gargantuan amount of sensitive and classified data from the U.S. government was studying Russian before he was arrested and would be a "prime target" for foreign spies should he be released on bail, prosecutors argued ahead of a court hearing for Harold Martin, III, today. The government said it is "readily apparent to every foreign counterintelligence professional and nongovernmental actor that the Defendant has access to highly classified information, whether in his head, in still-hidden physical locations, or stored in cyberspace -- and he has demonstrated absolutely no interest in protecting it. This makes the Defendant a prime target, and his release would seriously endanger the safety of the country and potentially even the Defendant himself." Prosecutors noted that Martin purportedly communicated online "with others in languages other than English, including in Russian" and that he had downloaded information on the Russian language just a couple months before he was arrested in August. Martin's attorneys, however, said in their own court filing Thursday that there is still no evidence he "intended to betray his country" and argued that he was not a flight risk. All the talk of foreign spies and potential getaway plans, the defense said, were "fantastical scenarios." Martin's defense team said in part: "The government concocts fantastical scenarios in which Mr. Martin -- who, by the government's own admission, does not possess a valid passport -- would attempt to flee the country. Mr. Martin's wife is here in Maryland. His home is here in Maryland. He hash served this country honorably as a lieutenant in the United States Navy, and he has devoted his entire career to serving his country. There is no evidence he intended to betray his country. The government simply does not meet its burden of showing that no conditions of release would reasonably assure Mr. Martin's future appearance in court. For these reasons, and additional reasons to be discussed at the detention hearing, Mr. Martin should be released on conditions pending trial."
UPDATE 10/21/16: Slashdot reader chromaexursion writes: "Harold Martin was denied bail. The judge agreed the the prosecution in his decision."
UPDATE 10/21/16: Slashdot reader chromaexursion writes: "Harold Martin was denied bail. The judge agreed the the prosecution in his decision."
tagged too
...use a full clip to be extra safe.
And the problem with this is?
;)
It's a shame he isn't running for President, then. The government would wait months to even question him.
Do you know what it takes to flee to another country? Go to the Mexico border at any of the well established public border crossings and walk across, along with hundreds of other people. No fuss, no problem.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
"... prosecutors argued ahead of a court hearing for Harold Martin, III, today. "
Why the heck is there a comma between "Martin" and "III"? Trying to interpret where the error is in that sentence fragment introduces various possibilities for interpretation, especially with a sans serif font.
- Is he the third person of that name in his family?
- Is he ill?
- Is he from Illinois?
- Is he, in fact, an extremely young and very precocious child?
#DeleteChrome
You need a passport to stroll up to an embassy and claim asylum/defect?
Disingenuous of his defense to claim a lack of a passport diminishes flight risk. We're not complete idiots.
and yet, people still fall for it.
is now a crime along with studying privacy and encryption software?
Given the flow of "Russian" related stories on slashdot, would studying Russian not now be the trending language to get a promotion in the NSA?
Or at least have some skills on show to fend off been replace by a contractor?
Is the NSA and GCHQ now tracking educational Russian language sites like it did crypto sites?
How the NSA Targets Tor Users (July 4, 2014)
http://motherboard.vice.com/re...
Was XKeyscore or its upgrade now tasked to watch Russian language sites?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
> And how do you then get him out of the country?
You only need a passport to *leave* the United States if you want to go by scheduled commercial air service (American Airlines, Delta, etc.) Russia has quite a few Gulfstream and Bombardier jets they could give him a ride on, and most of those aren't stationed in Russia - they are around the world, including in the US.
As someone else mentioned, he can also walk or drive across the border to mexico, and probably to Canada. getting back into the US from Mexico is when you need ID.
One of the conditions of bail being granted is risk of flight.
Given the example of Snowden, the risk of flight is incredible. No amount of bail could keep him in this country.
Why flee.... It sounds like he's a good candidate to be our next President. Did he at least store the data on a sever that has Internet access?
Oh oh... His defense could be that he didn't want it to get accidentally deleted by the next administration. He was creating a backup!!!
The government took prudent action in denying bail until more info is discovered. If all the guy did was bring classified home to work at home, he'll get a good slap of a year in prison or something along those lines. But if he really did or plan to deliver classified to a foreign country, the limit is death. I worked at a defense contractor at one point and they made it crystal clear the death penalty is on the table if you start spying for other countries.
It's easier to understand the allegations of flight risk if we picture that the statements were concocted in a scene much like this one: http://www.popoptiq.com/wp-con...
Two different sets of laws in this country. I'm disgusted.
It important to remember that Edward Snowden was a contractor. Why did he work for NSA as a contractor instead of a regular employee? Because he had no degree. Such people are generally shunned by HR managers. But if they have the right skills, hiring managers will often use contractor status to circumvent their own HR dept.
Thanks to a number of lawsuits, most employers have mandatory time limits for contractors, typically 1-3 years. Although many employers promote their best contractors to regular employment, HR often balks at waiving a degree requirement, even for people who are doing excellent work without one.
All contractors know (or should know) how much time they have on the clock. Once they understand the time limit, every contractor needs an exit strategy in case the employer declines to offer full-time employment when the time limit expires.
Whatever Snowden did, he did it with the understanding that his time at NSA was limited, and crossing over to full-time employment was going to be a challenge. In other words, he had nothing to lose.
If employers didn't have to use contract employment to circumvent their self-imposed budget and HR obstacles, you wouldn't see so many contractors with incentives to take secrets put the door.
I'm wouldn't be surprised to see this scenario repeated many times at the NSA.