Criminal law, Free Speech, Politics, Society

NSA Contractor Had History Of Anti-Trump Comments

17437825_1828484937393397_1642020504690753536_n1Reality Leigh Winner, of Augusta, Georgia has the unfortunate distinction of being the first leaker caught by the Trump Administration.  With members like Jason Chaffetz saying “I want to see people in handcuffs,” the 25-year-old federal contract worker could be facing some serious jail time.  In addition, she seems to fulfill the image advanced President Trump as a liberal, anti-Trump advocate within the system.  What will be interesting is the sentence sought by the Administration after high-ranking officials have been given no criminal charges or misdemeanors for removing classified information and other related charges.

Winner is charged with gathering, transmitting or losing defense information that could have been damaging to the U.S.  The indictment alleges that she took a top secret National Security Agency document, copied it and mailed it to a news organization. The organization is believed to be The Intercept.  She did not make it particularly difficult for investigators.

Winner was an employee at Pluribus International Corporation, which is based in Alexandria, Virginia. The company supplies analytical and engineering services and Winner was working at its Georgia location.

Winner was an active duty member of the U.S. Air Force and worked as a linguist. She has an impressive background and can speak Pashto, Farsi and Dari.

Winner is active on social media and posted liberal and anti-Trump material under the name Sara Winners.

In February , Winner tweeted that rapper Kanye West that he should make a shirt declaring whiteness an act of terror: “@kanyewest you should make a shirt that says, ‘being white is terrorism.’” She also indicates that she is a Sanders supporter.

I do not believe that these comments should have disqualified her for such work.  Rather the tweets will likely support the narrative advanced by Trump that he is being actively undermined by political opponents in federal agencies. However, one alleged tweet would raise security issues for someone with an active clearance:

3 Feb
Javad Zarif ✔ @JZarif
We will never use our weapons against anyone, except in self-defense. Let us see if any of those who complain can make the same statement. pic.twitter.com/xwGquvqLvb
Follow
Sara Winners @Reezlie
@JZarif There are many Americans protesting US govt aggression towards Iran. If our Tangerine in Chief declares war, we stand with you!
8:18 AM – 7 Feb 2017
231 231 Retweets 192 192 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy

thThe FBI received the tip that led to her arrest from a news outlet.  Intercept may have shown the document to a third party for verification.  The investigators soon determined that Winner was one of six people who had access to the document in question on her computer since it was published internally.  They then found an email contact with the  news outlet on March 30 and then again March 31 from her personal GMail account.

The Intercept may face questions from whistleblowers and other groups over its protection of a source if it was the cause for this material to be revealed to the government.

She reportedly confessed.

The Espionage Act charges carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.  Usually such cases will result in sentences of one to three years.  The Obama administration prosecuted nine or ten leak-related cases — twice the number of cases brought by all previous administrations.

Here is the affidavit in support of the indictment.

125 thoughts on “NSA Contractor Had History Of Anti-Trump Comments”

  2. The restraint her parents showed by not giving her the middle name, ‘Show’, is admirable.

    1. 🙂 For all practical purposes, it will be her middle name now. She’ll need to change her last name however.

  3. STATEMENT ON JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ALLEGATIONS

    The Intercept

    June 6 2017, 10:40 a.m.

    On June 5 The Intercept published a story about a top-secret NSA document that was provided to us completely anonymously. Shortly after the article was posted, the Justice Department announced the arrest of Reality Leigh Winner, a 25-year-old government contractor in Augusta, Georgia, for transmitting defense information under the Espionage Act. Although we have no knowledge of the identity of the person who provided us with the document, the U.S. government has told news organizations that Winner was that individual.

    While the FBI’s allegations against Winner have been made public through the release of an affidavit and search warrant, which were unsealed at the government’s request, it is important to keep in mind that these documents contain unproven assertions and speculation designed to serve the government’s agenda and as such warrant skepticism. Winner faces allegations that have not been proven. The same is true of the FBI’s claims about how it came to arrest Winner.

    We take this matter with the utmost seriousness. However, because of the continued investigation, we will make no further comment on it at this time.

    https://theintercept.com/2017/06/06/statement-on-justice-department-allegations/

    1. See, this would fit, for somebody faced daily with barrages of idiocy by the main stream media: (from the above article)

      The term “brainwashing” was coined in 1951 by Edward Hunter, an
      American journalist.24 Hunter was alluding to a form of mind control that was
      used in the wake of the Communist takeover in China.25 Hunter formalized the
      concept to explain how American prisoners of war (“POWs”) converted to
      Communism in the 1950s as a result of coercion by the Communist Chinese and
      North Korean armies.26
      Brainwashing by the Communists was comprised of “an elaborate ritual of
      systematic indoctrination, conversion, and self-accusation used to change non-
      Communists into submissive followers of the party.”27 Dr. Joost Meerloo
      (“Meerloo”) compares the process of brainwashing to Pavlov’s theory of conditioning.
      28 The prisoners of war were subjected to negative and positive conditioning
      stimuli such as hunger and food.29 Once a POW conformed to the
      political teachings his food rations were improved.      30 According to Meerloo,
      “Under the daily signal of dulling routine questions . . . their minds went into a
      state of inhibition and dismissed alertness.”31 This process broke down democratic
      thoughts and replaced them with conditioned reflexes.32

      See, when you adopt the Democratic Party Narrative, you get promoted, don’t get protested by SJWs. The whole reward system in this country is compelling us to buy into the Democratic Party narratives. And when you don’t, you get punished like Trump, Milo, and Coulter. Even the Evergreen Professor.

      Penelope swears she could sell it in court, in front of a jury.

      Squeeky Fromm
      Girl Reporter

    3. Squeek don’t go bashing on the Berniebots. We are not the problem – Hilbots are!! =)

  7. Hey, just thought if Manning went in as a guy and came out as Chelsea Manning, if Winner goes in as a gal will she come out as Ralph Lee Winner or Ralph Lee Loser?

    3. I have known both men and women named Leigh. But WTF were her parents thinking in naming her “Reality?” Whatever, the little snowflake is going to face reality now!

  8. Years ago, Winner would have been caught hanging around the printer by Army ASA & CID in Augusta, Georgia.

    She is pro Black Lives Matter, anti-white people, convinced the world is ending thru climate change. Did this kook ever get interviewed by FBI & polygraph tested?

  9. I’m sure there are more out there. Hope they’re caught and prosecuted but let’s also get the Lerner’s and Rice’s as well. Why do they ALWAYS get a pass?

    1. Has Mueller cleared them already? No. What free pass. At the very least they have lost the intent defense. and Rice herself was placed high enough to have zero defense no matter who ordered her or asked her to do this or that.

    1. Turn on Assange, for what exactly?

      Assange’s WikiLeaks has never, ever been found to leak fake anything.

      Re. Turley’s remark what kind of sentence this loser “Winner” shall get compared to others who violated similar law and got away scot free: This woman had obvious intent to commit felony to damage our sitting POTUS. If the death penalty is on the table, she cries out for it.

    2. Why? Assange made his career on exactly that premise which goes back to the Pentagon Papers and Ellsbergs psychiatrist’s notes. Assange doesn’t leak those materials they are sent to him by the leakers. As a foreign citizen he is under no obligation to the laws of the USA just as a Russian hacker when there is no law in Russia for reading other countries unsecured information. Especially when the password translates t Step right in we’ve spread our digital legs for you. Hillary plays stupid….but that and intent do not matter. It was the act of setting up the information pipeline …presumably to get information too someone. perhaps th eformer bosses of the USSR? But not some kid taking advantage of free candy.

  11. Oh, so the Russians did try to hack the voting machines. Did they succeed?

  12. No doubt she will get a stiff sentence, even though much bigger fish have suffered little or no punishment for similar offenses.

    1. That’s the old Calley Medina way of doing things. The brass skated.

    2. Manning served about 4 years at Leavenworth before Obama pardoned him. Winner certainly can’t expect Trump to pardon her!

  13. The best thing they should do is prosecute her based strictly on the relevant statute. If the sentencing guidelines are limited to 10 years maximum, then I would use the magical intent factor to determine how much of the 10 years she serves. She apparently intended to do harm to this administration. She should serve a mandatory 10 years. Others determined to have violated the statute, but with no harmful intent beyond avoiding the required proper safeguarding of classified materials, should still be prosecuted and sentenced with prison time; not necessarily 10 years, but enough to deter others from such conduct.

    1. Olly:
      A sound and proper reply. Until one has worked in that arena, one can not fathom the massive manpower needed to protect the system that protects our government. The lady in this case clearly has a significant education to understand what she is alleged to have done. Our existing Treason and Sedition laws are adequate to handle this matter. It needs to happen.

      1. Thank you John. I’m sure I’m being naive when I say national security doesn’t seem to mean what it used to mean. Hell, the law doesn’t seem to mean anything beyond what anyone is willing to enforce. So instead of the law, we have lawfare.

        I recall when I retired from the Navy and began working in the civilian world that I wished I could go back. The military world made sense to me. Violations of the UCMJ were not overlooked because one clearly made a judgment error. They certainly weren’t dismissed because the element of intent couldn’t be determined.

        We are taught that for the security of classified information to be effective, it had to be inconvenient. This meant if the two-person rule was required, then two people had to be present when accessing that classified information. This meant if one of the two had to go to the head, then the information was locked in the vault (safe), logged and then the accessing process is repeated once the person returns. Essentially, we developed a worldview that our personal opinion of physical security of classified information is irrelevant.

        Once you allow individuals to bring their personal biases into that environment and bend the law for an agenda that subverts national security, then you no longer have a reasonable expectation that national security exists. This is where I believe we are as a nation. We have national security relativism, which means we have individual security relativism. There is no room for capricious enforcement of the law when it comes to national security.

    2. For the umpteent time intent is not a factor in National Security matters . That’s what go Comey in trouble when he tried to introduce it and his ‘friends’ Lynch and Yates seized upon the mistake and dumped it inh is lap. For that reason alone the investigation featuring and centered around Clinton is not closed and is continuing. Intent will not survive her or her 5th amdndment staff of felons.

          1. How about we just go with Trumpteenth and kill two birds with one stone. For example, for the trumpteenth time, stop tweeting your every thought!

      2. There is a lot of confusion between motive and intent in many of these comments.This leaker clearly intended to do so.Her motive could attenuate the sentence but not in my view.

    3. Olly, i spoke w/ my bride about this. She is a retired Federal Probation Officer. Her specialty was sentencing. She knew the guidelines inside and out and didn’t do supervision[hated it] the last 15 years of her career, only presentence investigations. She says this “trash” state of mind and intent will factor into this sentence. The social media comments will, or should, be part of the presentence report. 48-60 months.

      1. Thanks Nick. The internet has made it far easier for people to expose classified material. That’s the downside, the upside is it should be far easier to identify individuals, we trust with security clearances, as potential threats. This woman does not have a constitutional right to weaponize her national security position against our national security. And that is precisely what she has allegedly chosen to do.

  14. Must have been a fake report she hacked since Trump said the Russians did not interfere.

  15. The whole thing seems odd to me. 25, supposedly functional in Pashto, Farsi, Deri… Top Secret clearance which obviously has been handed out for years at the local fish fry. Or close to.

    eh.

      1. Not unlike Seth Rich, I have NO idea what is going on with latest machinations but when it happened, just had a smell to it. Here too….So often these supposedly well trained multilingual mil people (unless native speakers, Mother is Persian or something like that)… well… it doesn’t hold up.

    2. I read an article about Bradley Manning. They issued him a TS clearance without even talking to his parents, who could have told the investigators that he had “issues,” to put it mildly. The TS clearances don’t mean all that much when the government needs a particular skill set. In Manning’s case, they needed someone with computer skills, so they overlooked a lot of outrageous behavior that would have gotten a regular soldier a bad conduct discharge. In Winner’s case, her linguistic skills may have gotten her a pass.

    1. Then she qualifies under stupid another trait of that grouping.

  17. More trash undermining the nation and the administration. She’ll like FCI-Danbury. To quote Voltaire, she’ll be “led away to separate apartments, of a remarkable coolness never troubled by the sun.”

    1. She isn’t trash. That’s her problem. She thought the rules did not apply to her.

      1. DSS:

        Trash: noun \ˈtrash\

        1
        : something worth little or nothing: such asa : junk, rubbishb (1) : inferior or worthless writing or artistic matter (such as a television show); especially : such matter intended purely for sensational entertainment (2) : trash talk (3) : empty talk : nonsense

        2
        : a worthless person; also : such persons as a group : riffraff

        I think she qualifies under #2.

        1. Well as it’s been said, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

  18. Unfortunate distinction? This trailor trash reject is far from being anything, even remotely connected to the term, unfortunate. Those that misuse their access to classified materials, thereby abusing said privilege and the trust bestowed upon them, via the dissemination of such materials–especially when said materials could harm the safety and the welfare of this country–should suffer the ultimate punishment. Party lines mean nothing. Across the board. Fire up Ole Sparky, the electric chair. Those, even remotely considering engaging in such a stunt, would think twice–or more–before engaging in such a crime if they knew that their lives were on the line.

  20. Sooo glad there is an article on this! My BFF says that if she was her atty, she would plead mental defect caused by brainwashing. Inforwars has some of Sara’s really good tweets! She is pro Black Lives Matter, anti-white people, convinced the world is ending thru climate change. On the good side, she has cats.

    https://www.infowars.com/jailed-nsa-leaker-reality-winner-being-white-is-terrorism/

    Personally, I wonder how she is going to feel about black lives after she has been locked up for 10 years or so with a bunch of them.

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

    3. Perhaps she has already been “locked up” with them….which may explain her self-loathing. She lives in Georgia; could be that she was raised by a single mother in a black housing project and had to become a “wigger” to survive. Traditionally the military has been a way out for people born into poverty. Someone like her, who based on her linguistic talents must have some raw intelligence, could have had a great career. The military can provide upward mobility, but it can’t fix deep psychological problems. She is another Bradley Manning; both so possessed of self-loathing that they committed serious crimes and left such obvious tracks that they must have wanted to be caught.

      1. Her sad middle class white parents have been interviewed on many media outlets.

    4. The female pictured in JT’s post does not appear to be the same one as shown in the photos on Squeeky’s link. One has brown eyes; the other blue. Plus the muscle bound person in the green tank top – those don’t look like the arms of a female to me. I’m not conspiracy minded, but I dunno, this is kind of weird……

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