‘Spy’ held over US media leaks

A WOMAN aged 25 has been charged with spying after a secret document about alleged Russian attempts to tamper with last year’s US presidential election was leaked.

Reality Leigh Winner, pictured, who had security clearance as an intelligence contractor for Pluribus International, ‘unlawfully retained’ classified information and ‘mailed it to a news outlet’, court papers claim. She is the first to be charged over leaks about alleged Russian hacks during the election.

The Intercept website had posted a story allegedly based on a classified National Security Agency report claiming Russian military launched cyber-attacks on a ‘US voting software supplier’.

The website said the NSA report was passed to them anonymously. But the FBI arrested Miss Winner at her home in Augusta, Georgia. Prosecutors says she admitted leaking the report.