“This case has been dragging since August 2017. The government should be required to indict so Mr. Schulte has the opportunity to defend himself. Otherwise he is just languishing.”

Sabrina P. Shroff of the federal public defender’s office

“From a statistical point of view, there is no reason to assume that the files were leaked by a ‘millennial’. To the contrary, one would expect the person to be a very disappointed mid-career officer. In my opinion, the US Intel Community has already identified the person(s) responsible for the leak of the VAULT-7 files. And Michael Hayden knows that. Otherwise, his comments would make no sense whatsoever.”

Intel Today — March 17 2017

FBI investigators believe that Joshua A. Schulte — 29-year-old former C.I.A. software engineer — stole the CIA ‘Vault 7’ files and passed them to WikiLeaks. However, they have no evidence to prove it at this point.

After the release of Vault 7, I suggested that the files were genuine. (The CIA would of course neither deny nor confirm.) I also stated that the documents were leaked and not hacked as Trump said at the time. I thought that the insider was a CIA employee, and not a contractor. Finally, I believed that this person was rather young, despite the odds. (On average, IC whistleblowers tend to be mid-career officers.) I was right on all accounts. Flashback.  Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

RELATED POST: One Year Ago — “WikiLeaks: ‘Vault 7’ dump reignites debate about deadly car crash of Michael Hastings”

RELATED POST: Former CIA Boss Michael Hayden: ‘Millennials don’t understand loyalty and secrecy’

RELATED POST: Former CIA Boss Michael Hayden’s theory about VAULT 7 – WikiLeaks doesn’t hold water. Unless…

In March 2017, WikiLeaks released a stolen archive of secret documents — known as vault 7 — about the Central Intelligence Agency’s hacking operations.

The leak was very embarassing to the Agency as security researchers were able to document cases of the tools actively infecting governments and companies since at least 2011.

Although the investigators suspect Mr. Schulte, he has not been charged with the Vault 7 leak. Prosecutors have charged him with possessing child pornography.

Short Bio & TIMELINE

2007 – 2011  —  Student at the University of Texas

May 2008 — June 2009 — job at IBM

January 2010 — Works 4 months at the NSA // Employed within the Technology directorate (T) as a systems engineer // Administered and maintained high-speed passive signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection systems on Linux (Red Hat Enterprise) servers

May 2010 — begins to work as a software engineer at the CIA // Employed within the National Clandestine Service (NCS) as a Directorate of Science and Technology (DS&T) Intelligence Officer // Developed a multitude of Quick Reactions Capabilities (QRCs) in C/C++ for both Windows and Linux systems to support clandestine operations

November 2016 — takes a job at Bloomberg

March 7 2017 — WikiLeaks began to publish CIA hacking files

March 7 2017 — Former CIA boss Michael Hayden blames millennials for Vault 7 leaks

March X 2017 — Just days after the publication, F.B.I. agents searched his Manhattan apartment

August 2017 — charged with possessing child pornography

September 2017 — Mr. Schulte is released on the condition that he not leave New York City, where he lived with a cousin, and keep off computers

December 2017 — jailed after prosecutors found evidence that he had violated those rules. He has been held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan

May 2018 — Identity revealed by the media (NYT, WaPo)

Flashback

In March 2017, former CIA Director Michael Hayden stated that these documents may have been leaked by an insider, most likely a young CIA recruit.

Michael Hayden specifically cited whistleblowers Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden and speculated that whoever recently gave the CIA spy tool files to WikiLeaks was also likely a millennial.

“In order to do this kind of stuff [referring to government surveillance], we have to recruit from a certain demographic.”

“And I don’t mean to judge them at all, but this group of millennials and related groups simply have different understandings of the words loyalty, secrecy, and transparency than certainly my generation did.”

“Culturally, they have different instincts than people who made the decision to hire them.”

I told you that this analysis was bizarre and probably meant that Hayden already knew what had happened. Here is what I wrote a year ago.

Prior to the Obama administration, there had been only three known cases resulting in indictments in which the Espionage Act was used to prosecute government officials for leaks. (Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo 1971, Samuel Morison 1985 and Lawrence Franklin 2005. There is a similar case dating from 1945.)

The Obama Administration added seven cases to the list: Thomas Drake, Shamai Leibowitz, Chelsea Manning, Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, Jeffrey Sterling, John Kiriakou, and Edward Snowden.

Daniel Ellsberg was 40 when he leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press in 1971, exposing widespread government deceit about the Vietnam War. Samuel Morison was also 40 when he passed US satellite pictures to a British Defense magazine in 1984. Lawrence Franklin was over 50 when he began passing classified military information to two pro-Israel lobbyists and an Israeli diplomat in 1999.

Now, it is true that Manning and Snowden are millennials. BUT, these two individuals are the exception — rather than the rule — in term of their age at the time of the leak!

The other five whistleblowers — Thomas Drake, Shamai Leibowitz, Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, Jeffrey Sterling, and John Kiriakou — indicted during the Obama’s Presidency were all in their early forties at the time of the events that led to an indictment against them. [NOTE: Jeffrey Sterling denies the charges against him and a court is currently reviewing his conviction.]

From a statistical point of view, there is no reason to assume that the files were leaked by a ‘millennial’. To the contrary, one would expect the person to be a very disappointed mid-career officer.

To make it simple, I see three possibilities to explain Hayden’s ‘accusation’.

Firstly, the former CIA Boss is Math-Challenged and/or poorly informed regarding whistleblowers. I do not believe that. Hayden is certainly a very intelligent and savvy person.

Next, Hayden could be more of a truth-twister than even his detractors allege him to be.Possible. But then again, I have my doubts. Hayden knows the truth will be revealed in a not so distant future…

What else? General Hayden KNOWS what happened. Let us rewind the tape and listen carefully…

Former CIA boss blames millennials for leaks — Wikileaks Vault 7

On March 17 2017, after viewing this video, I wrote:

Despite his explicit warning to the contrary,

(1) It would then appear that General Hayden confirms that the document — VAULT 7 — published by WikiLeaks are authentic.

(2) General Hayden appears to confirm that the documents were LEAKED, not Hacked as the US President suggested recently.

[NOTE. It is highly unusual for US officials to do so. The policy is ‘Neither confirm, nor deny’. Remember the Cyber Awareness Challenge?]

(3) General Hayden seems to point the finger at a person who is a CIA employee, not a contractor.

(4) And finally, General Hayden blames the ‘Millennials’!

In my opinion, the US Intel Community has already identified the person(s) responsible for the leak of the VAULT-7 files.

PS: If true, it would also suggest that President Trump is not aware of these facts. Indeed, in an interview that aired Wednesday night on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight”, the President stated that the files had been hacked…

REFERENCES

Suspect Identified in C.I.A. Leak Was Charged, but Not for the Breach — NYT

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CIA VAULT 7 Leak — Suspect Identified, Charged for Child Porn