A woman named Reality Winner could face an unprecedented ten year jail term for leaking classified information to the news media according to federal prosecutors.
The Washington Times reports that, as part of a deal she received for pleading guilty, Winner is expected to receive a five year, three month sentence — still record-breaking — but the judge in the case isn’t bound by the plea bargain and could give Winner a decade behind bars.
“The Intelligence Community assessed that this further disclosure of the Intelligence Report and explaining its contents would compound the exceptionally grave harm to national security already caused by the defendant,” federal prosecutors wrote in a filing, defending a potentially harsh sentence.
Winner pled guilty last month on charges of mishandling sensitive information.
FBI reports have never corroborated or confirmed what information Winner leaked or to which media outlets. It’s suspected, however, that while working as a translator at an NSA facility, Winner mailed classified documents containing sensitive information on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election to The Intercept, a national security watchdog site run by investigative journalist and Edward Snowden confidante, Glenn Greenwald.
According to a story later published on The Intercept, Russian hackers attempted to gain access to a “U.S. voting software supplier” and tried to trick U.S. election officials into turning over sensitive information by sending them phishing emails.
Winner was arrested the same day The Intercept article appeared, The Washington Times notes.
The United States Justice Department, under the direction of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is taking a tough approach to the mishandling of classified information. President Donald Trump announced at the start of his term in office that anyone within the administration who leaked information to the media or to foreign interests would face stiff penalties.