Former NSA official indicted for allegedly leaking classified information to reporter
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A onetime top official at the National Security Agency has been indicted on suspicion of obstructing justice and making false statements in connection with allegedly leaking classified information to a journalist, the Justice Department announced Thursday morning.
Thomas Drake, 52, was a high-ranking employee when he became a source for many articles about the NSA, the Justice Department said.
Among the 10 counts in the indictment are allegations that Drake used a nongovernment e-mail account to transmit classified and unclassified information to the journalist. Authorities also allege that Drake lied to federal agents who were investigating the case.
The indictment does not name the journalist, identified only as “Reporter A.” The media outlet also is not identified.
According to the indictment, between February 2006 and November 2007, a newspaper reporter published a series of articles about the NSA, and Drake was the apparent source. The articles included classified information.
Drake is accused of taking steps to facilitate the transfer of data, including the exchange of hundreds of e-mails with the reporter and meeting with the reporter. Drake also allegedly pasted classified and unclassified information from NSA documents into untitled word processing documents which, when printed, had the classification markings removed.
The indictment also says Drake reviewed, commented on and edited drafts of the reporter’s articles.
“As alleged, this defendant used a secret, nongovernment e-mail account to transmit classified and unclassified information that he was not authorized to possess or disclose. As if those allegations are not serious enough, he also later allegedly shredded documents and lied about his conduct to federal agents in order to obstruct their investigation,” Assistant Atty. Gen. Lanny A. Breuer said in a prepared statement.
“Our national security demands that the sort of conduct alleged here – violating the government’s trust by illegally retaining and disclosing classified information – be prosecuted and prosecuted vigorously,” he said.
The indictment charges Drake with five counts of willfully retaining documents that relate to the national defense. In addition, the indictment charges Drake with obstruction of justice for allegedly destroying and deleting documents with the intent to impede and obstruct the federal investigation into alleged disclosures of classified information and four counts of making false statements to FBI agents, according to the Justice Department.
Drake could face fines of up $250,000 on each of the 10 counts and prison sentences of up to 20 years on the obstruction charge.
-- Michael Muskal
@LATimesmuskal
