Joshua Schulte, a former CIA officer, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for leaking classified hacking tools to Wikileaks and possessing child abuse images. The sentencing follows convictions on charges of espionage, computer hacking, contempt of court, making false statements, and child abuse image possession, concluding three separate federal trials from 2020 to 2023.
Schulte, aged 35, was accused of disclosing the CIA’s “Vault 7” tools, enabling the hacking of smartphones for intelligence purposes. The breach involved transmitting 8,761 documents to Wikileaks in 2017, constituting the largest data breach in CIA history. Despite Schulte’s persistent denial of the allegations, the convictions prompted the 40-year prison term.
The sentencing, delivered on Thursday, addressed the gravity of Schulte’s actions. US Attorney Damian Williams expressed condemnation, stating, “Joshua Schulte betrayed his country by committing some of the most brazen, heinous crimes of espionage in American history.” The charges encompassed a range of offenses, underlining the severity of the breach.
Evidence presented during the trials revealed Schulte’s role as a software developer in the Center for Cyber Intelligence, engaged in cyber espionage against terrorist organizations and foreign governments. Prosecutors argued that Schulte’s motivation stemmed from workplace disputes, leading to revenge actions that inflicted significant harm on national security.
The leak, which began in 2017, had profound consequences for the CIA. It damaged the agency’s ability to collect foreign intelligence against adversaries, jeopardized personnel, programs, and assets, and incurred substantial financial costs amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Schulte, held in custody since 2018, attempted further information transmission even after his arrest. This included smuggling a phone into jail and attempting to send a reporter information about CIA cyber groups. He also drafted tweets under the name Jason Bourne, a fictional intelligence operative, revealing details about CIA cyber tools.
The sentencing underscores the severity of Schulte’s actions and serves as a stark reminder of the challenges intelligence agencies face in safeguarding sensitive information. The 40-year prison term reflects the judicial response to a case described as one of the most brazen breaches of espionage in the history of the United States.