Arrest made after publishing of NSA report

Classified report on Russian election interference leaked

A federal contractor was arrested Monday in Georgia in connection with a classified NSA report on Russian election interference published by the online publication The Intercept.

According to the top secret document, Russian military intelligence conducted a cyberattack on at least one supplier of voting software and sent phishing emails containing malicious software to more than 100 local election officials days before the 2016 election, The Intercept reported.

After the Intercept story was published Monday, the Justice Department announced the arrest of a 25-year-old federal contractor from Georgia in connection with the disclosure.

Reality Leigh Winner, a contractor with Pluribus International Corp., who has held a top secret security clearance since at least February, made her first federal court appearance in Augusta, Ga., on Monday afternoon.

“Winner printed and improperly removed classified intelligence reporting, which contained classified national defense information from an intelligence community agency and unlawfully retained it,” court documents stated, adding that material was taken May 9.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein credited federal law enforcement agents with acting “quickly to identify and arrest the defendant.”

According to The Intercept, the classified May 5 intelligence report “is the most detailed U.S. government account of Russian interference in the election that has yet come to light.” The NSA report says it is based on information it obtained in April.