Image copyright AP Image caption The National Security Agency HQ in Fort Meade, Maryland

A National Security Agency contractor has been arrested, accused of taking top secret information, officials say.

Harold Thomas Martin III is charged with theft of government property and unauthorised removal of "highly classified" materials.

The 51-year-old had a top secret national security clearance and faces 10 years in prison.

Mr Martin's lawyer said there was no evidence he had betrayed the US, a country he very much loved.

The Justice Department said he worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, the same contractor that employed NSA leaker Edward Snowden.

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Six of the documents found in Mr Martin's possession were classified as top secret, "meaning that unauthorized disclosure reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the US", the Justice Department said.

According to a warrant, Mr Martin was arrested two days after his Glen Burnie, Maryland, home, garage and vehicle were searched on 27 August this year.

The FBI said Mr Martin at first denied taking the documents, but later admitted removing documents and digital files.

James Wyda, Mr Martin's lawyer, told the Baltimore Sun his client has yet to be proven guilty of the charges.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The Booz Allen Hamilton office building in McLean, Virginia

"There's no evidence that Hal Martin has betrayed his country," Mr Wyda said.

"What we do know is that Hal Martin loves his family and his country. He served this nation honourably in the US Navy and he has devoted his entire life to protecting his country."

Mr Martin faces up to 10 years in prison for the theft of government property, and up to one year for the removal of classified materials.

The New York Times, which broke the story, said Mr Martin was suspected of taking the NSA's "source code" used to hack into the systems of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

"A large percentage of the materials recovered from Martin's residence and vehicle bore markings indicating that they were property of the United States and contained highly classified information of the United States," FBI Special Agent Jeremy Bucalo wrote.

"The disclosure of the documents would reveal those sensitive sources, methods, and capabilities."

John Carlin, the Justice Department's top national security official, said the arrest underlined the threat posed by insiders.</s>The U.S. Justice Department charged a Maryland man with theft of classified government material, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. The Justice Department’s chief national security prosecutor John Carlin said Harold Thomas Martin (51) worked as a government contractor for Booz Allen Hamilton, the same consulting firm that employed Edward Snowden when he revealed the collection of meta-data by the National Security Agency.

Six documents investigators found in Martin’s possession allegedly contained sensitive intelligence and were produced by a U.S. government agency in 2014.

“These six documents were produced through sensitive government sources, methods, and capabilities, which are critical to a wide variety of national security issues,” the complaint said. Martin had a top secret national security clearance and the ability to access U.S. government property that was not permitted to leave its authorized location, according to the criminal complaint.</s>WASHINGTON: The FBI has arrested a man who worked as a private contractor for the National Security Agency in a probe into the theft of top-secret government information, the US authorities said Wednesday.

The Department of Justice released a criminal complaint against Harold Thomas Martin III, 51, of Maryland, charging him with theft of government property and unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials.

Martin, who has now been fired, worked for Booz Allen Hamilton — the same firm that hired the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The case is an embarrassing new blow for both the NSA and Booz Allen, which the New York Times said helps build and operate many of the NSA’s most sensitive cyber operations.

According to the criminal complaint, investigators found hard copies and digital files of top-secret documents in Martin’s home and car. He was arrested August 27 following the search.

Booz Allen, a 102-year-old company, said it reached out to offer full cooperation with the authorities as soon as it learned of the arrest.

“And we fired the employee,” it said in a statement.

The arrest came after investigators began looking into the theft of source code used by the NSA to hack adversaries’ computer systems, such as those of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

Such access would enable the NSA to plant malware in rivals’ systems and monitor — or even attack — their networks.</s>Oct 5 The U.S. Justice Department charged a Maryland man with theft of classified government material, according to a court complaint unsealed on Wednesday.

The Justice Department's chief national security prosecutor John Carlin said Harold Thomas Martin, 51, worked as a government contractor for Booz Allen Hamilton, the same consulting firm that employed Edward Snowden when he revealed the collection of metadata by the National Security Agency. (Reporting by Julia Edwards, Jim Finkle and Susan Heavey; Editing by James Dalgleish)</s>WASHINGTON — A contractor for the National Security Agency has been arrested on charges that he illegally removed highly classified information and stored the material in his home and car, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Harold Thomas Martin III, 51, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, was arrested by the FBI in August after he admitted to having taken government secrets, authorities said. A defense attorney said Martin did not intend to betray his country.

The arrest was not made public until Wednesday, when the Justice Department unsealed a criminal complaint that accused Martin of having been in possession of top-secret information that could cause “exceptionally grave danger” to national security if disclosed.</s>WASHINGTON — A contractor for the National Security Agency has been arrested on charges that he illegally removed highly classified information and stored the material in his house and car, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Harold Thomas Martin III, 51, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, was arrested by the FBI in August after authorities say he admitted to having taken government secrets. A defense attorney said Martin did not intend to betray his country.

Among the classified documents found with Martin, according to the Justice Department, were six that contain sensitive intelligence - meaning they were produced through sensitive government sources or methods that are critical to national security - and date back to 2014. All the documents were clearly marked as classified information, according to a criminal complaint.

The arrest could turn into another embarrassment for the U.S. intelligence community. It would be the second case of an intelligence worker stealing secret data from the NSA in recent years.

The New York Times first reported the arrest of an NSA contractor. The complaint does not identify the agency Martin worked for as a contractor, but a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation confirmed it was the NSA.

At Martin's home, investigators found stolen property valued at "well in excess of $1,000," the complaint said. He voluntarily agreed to an interview.

"Martin at first denied, and later when confronted with specific documents, admitted he took documents and digital files from his work assignment to his residence and vehicle that he knew were classified," according to the complaint, despite not having the authorization to do so. "Martin stated that he knew what he had done was wrong and that he should not have done it because he knew it was unauthorized."

Martin has been in custody since a court appearance in August, when he was arrested.

"There is no evidence that Hal Martin intended to betray his country," his public defenders, James Wyda and Deborah Boardman, said in a statement. "What we do know is that Hal Martin loves his family and his country. He served honorably as a lieutenant in the United States Navy, and he has devoted his entire career to serving his country. We look forward to defending Hal Martin in court."

Speaking at a cybersecurity panel Wednesday, the Justice Department's top national security official, John Carlin, confirmed the arrest of "an individual who's involved in taking classified information." He said the arrest generally pointed to the threat posed by insiders.

The complaint charges Martin with unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials, which carries a maximum one-year sentence, and theft of government property - an offense punishable by up to 10 years.

In 2013, NSA contractor Edward Snowden stole 1.5 million classified documents from NSA. He leaked them to journalists, revealing the agency's bulk collection of millions of Americans' phone records.

That set off a fierce debate that pit civil libertarians concerned about privacy against more hawkish lawmakers fearful about losing tools to combat terrorism. Democrats and libertarian-leaning Republicans pushed through a reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act last year that ended the program.

Snowden fled to Hong Kong, then Russia, to avoid prosecution and now wants a presidential pardon because he says he helped his country by revealing secret domestic surveillance programs.

Associated Press writers Ben Nuckols and Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.</s>Washington (CNN) A government contractor was arrested in August for allegedly stealing top secret intelligence, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

According to a criminal complaint, Harold Thomas Martin III, 51, was charged with theft of government property and unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials by a government employee or contractor after searches of his home and property revealed hard-copy and digital files containing "highly classified information."

Martin worked at Booz Allen Hamilton as a contractor to the National Security Agency, according to a law enforcement source.

Among the documents the FBI believes Martin stole were some detailing a hacking tool that the NSA developed to break into computer systems in other countries. Documents detailing the tools were posted on the Internet in recent months.

FBI investigators haven't concluded what Martin's motivation for stealing the documents. But so far they don't believe he did it for a foreign country.

In a statement, Booz Allen did not refer to Martin by name but acknowledged one of its employees had been arrested. The company said it has offered its "total cooperation" to authorities and fired Martin.

"There have been no material changes to our client engagements as a result of this matter," the company said. "Booz Allen is a 102-year-old company, and the alleged conduct does not reflect our core values. Thousands of our employees support critical client missions with dedication and excellence each day. Their professionalism, values and ethics are what define our firm."

Martin's attorneys, Deborah Boardman and James Wyda, said in a joint statement that the charges are "mere allegations."

"We have not yet seen any evidence," the attorneys said. "There is no evidence that Hal Martin betrayed his country. What we do know is that Mr. Martin loves his family and America, he served his nation honorably in the US Navy as a lieutenant and has devoted his entire career to making America safe. We look forward to defending Hal Martin in court."

Martin's wife said outside their Glen Burnie, Maryland, home that her husband is a "good man" and asked for privacy.

"I love him very much," Debbie Martin said.

Martin served in the US Navy and Naval Reserves for more than 10 years, reaching the rank of lieutenant, according to his service record obtained by CNN. He received several awards and distinctions, including the Joint Meritorious Unit Award and Navy Unit Commendation.

The files allegedly obtained by Martin contained top secret information, the complaint said. Top secret is the highest level of government classification and is defined by the government as material that if disclosed "reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security."

Martin was arrested in late August, according to the Justice Department. No explanation was given for why his arrest was not announced until Wednesday. Martin has been detained since his arrest, but has not been formally indicted yet.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin was speaking at a conference in Boston Wednesday when the news broke and confirmed the arrest. He wouldn't get into details, but said it highlights the risk of insider threats.

"We have made an arrest of an individual who's involved in taking classified information," Carlin said, saying it shows concerns beyond external hackers in systems. "We also need to take into account -- whether it's economic espionage or traditional espionage -- the focus on those who are trusted within our companies, within our government who can exploit that trust to cause enormous harm."

Martin faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison for the unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials and 10 years in prison for theft of government property, according to the complaint.

No known connection with Snowden

Edward Snowden famously disclosed a number of NSA surveillance techniques and fled the country in 2013. He also worked for Booz Allen, though there is no known connection between Snowden and Martin.

Snowden speculated on Twitter that Martin's arrest could be linked to a leak of NSA secrets.

"This is huge. Did the FBI secretly arrest the person behind the reports NSA sat on huge flaws in US products?" Snowden wrote.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama "takes quite seriously" the potential theft of top secret intelligence by a government contractor.

The revelation was a "good reminder for all of us with security clearances about how important it is for us to protect sensitive national security information," Earnest said.

He added that he was "sharply limited" in what he could say about the case since a criminal investigation is ongoing.

News of Martin's arrest follows the August release of what appeared to be top secret computer code that the NSA had used to target the computers of other governments and actors, though there is no known connection between the two incidents.

That release, by a group calling itself the Shadow Brokers, was of code that dated back to around 2013, according to James Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The documents were posted for sale online.

At the time, it raised the prospect that the world's pre-eminent cyberspying agency had itself been hacked.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — A contractor for the National Security Agency has been arrested on charges that he illegally removed highly classified information and stored the material in his house and car, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Harold Thomas Martin III, 51, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, was arrested by the FBI in August after authorities say he admitted to having taken government secrets. A defense attorney said Martin did not intend to betray his country.

Among the classified documents found with Martin, according to the Justice Department, were six that contain sensitive intelligence — meaning they were produced through sensitive government sources or methods that are critical to national security — and date back to 2014. All the documents were clearly marked as classified information, according to a criminal complaint.

The arrest was made around the same time that U.S. officials acknowledged an investigation into a cyber leak of purported hacking tools used by the NSA. The tool kit consists of malicious software intended to tamper with firewalls, the electronic defenses protecting computer networks.

The arrest could turn into another embarrassment for the U.S. intelligence community. It would be the second case of an intelligence worker stealing secret data from the NSA in recent years. The agency monitors and collects sensitive information and data, mostly from overseas.

The New York Times first reported the arrest of an NSA contractor. The complaint does not identify the agency Martin worked for as a contractor, but a U.S. official familiar with the investigation confirmed it was the NSA.

At Martin's home, investigators found stolen property valued at "well in excess of $1,000," the complaint said. He voluntarily agreed to an interview.

"Martin at first denied, and later when confronted with specific documents, admitted he took documents and digital files from his work assignment to his residence and vehicle that he knew were classified," according to the complaint, despite not having the authorization to do so. "Martin stated that he knew what he had done was wrong and that he should not have done it because he knew it was unauthorized."

Martin has been in custody since a court appearance in August, when he was arrested.

"There is no evidence that Hal Martin intended to betray his country," his public defenders, James Wyda and Deborah Boardman, said in a statement. "What we do know is that Hal Martin loves his family and his country. He served honorably as a lieutenant in the United States Navy, and he has devoted his entire career to serving his country. We look forward to defending Hal Martin in court."

Speaking at a cybersecurity panel Wednesday, the Justice Department's top national security official, Assistant Attorney General John Carlin, confirmed the arrest of "an individual who's involved in taking classified information." He said the arrest generally pointed to the threat posed by insiders.

Greg Mickley, who lives several houses down from Martin, said his family was barbecuing on a Saturday afternoon in August when they heard a loud bang.

"They threw, we're guessing, a flashbang (stun grenade) in his house and raided and went in the house, and they were there for 11 hours — in and out, and they had him outside in cuffs," Mickley said, recalling the afternoon of the arrest.

The complaint charges Martin with unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials, which carries a maximum one-year sentence, and theft of government property — an offense punishable by up to 10 years.

In 2013, NSA contractor Edward Snowden stole 1.5 million classified documents from NSA. He leaked them to journalists, revealing the agency's bulk collection of millions of Americans' phone records.

That set off a fierce debate that pit civil libertarians concerned about privacy against more hawkish lawmakers fearful about losing tools to combat terrorism. Democrats and libertarian-leaning Republicans pushed through a reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act last year that ended the program.

Snowden fled to Hong Kong, then Russia, to avoid prosecution and now wants a presidential pardon because he says he helped his country by revealing secret domestic surveillance programs.

After news broke of the arrest, Snowden tweeted: "Am I correct in reading they didn't charge him under the Espionage Act? Under this administration, that's a noteworthy absence." The Justice Department could, however, still bring new or additional charges in a grand jury indictment.

Associated Press writers Ben Nuckols and Deb Riechmann and Brian Witte in Glen Burnie contributed to this report.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — A contractor for the National Security Agency has been arrested on charges that he illegally removed highly classified information and stored the material in his house and car, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. Harold Thomas Martin III, 51, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, was arrested by the FBI in August after authorities say he admitted ...</s>The arrest raises the embarrassing prospect that for the second time in three years, a contractor for the consulting company Booz Allen Hamilton managed to steal highly damaging secret information while working for the NSA.

WASHINGTON — The FBI secretly arrested a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor in August and, according to law-enforcement officials, is investigating whether he stole and disclosed highly classified computer code developed by the agency to hack into the networks of foreign governments.

The arrest raises the embarrassing prospect that for the second time in three years, a contractor for the consulting company Booz Allen Hamilton managed to steal highly damaging secret information while working for the NSA.

In 2013, Edward Snowden, who was also a Booz Allen contractor, took a vast trove of documents from the agency that later were passed to journalists, exposing surveillance programs in the United States and abroad.

The contractor was identified as Harold Martin III of Glen Burnie, Md., according to a criminal complaint filed in late August and unsealed Wednesday. Martin, who at the time of his arrest was working as a contractor for the Defense Department after leaving the NSA, was charged with theft of government property and the unauthorized removal or retention of classified documents.

Martin, 51, was arrested during an FBI raid on his home Aug. 27. A neighbor, Murray Bennett, said Wednesday that two dozen FBI agents wearing military-style uniforms and armed with long guns stormed the house, and later escorted Martin out in handcuffs.

According to court documents, the FBI discovered thousands of pages of documents and dozens of computers or other electronic devices at his home and in his car, a large amount of it classified. The digital media contained “many terabytes of information,” according to the documents. They also discovered classified documents that had been posted online, including computer code, officials said.

More than a month later, authorities cannot say with certainty whether Martin leaked the information, passed it on to a third party or whether he simply downloaded the information.

When FBI agents interviewed Martin after the raid, he initially denied having taken the documents and digital files, according to the complaint. But he later told authorities that he knew he was not authorized to have the materials. He told the agents, according to the complaint, “He knew what he had done was wrong and that he should not have done it because he knew it was unauthorized.”

The Justice Department unsealed the complaint — which was filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore — after The New York Times notified the government it intended to publish a story about Martin.

In a brief statement issued Wednesday, lawyers for Martin said: “We have not seen any evidence. But what we know is that Hal Martin loves his family and his country. There is no evidence that he intended to betray his country.”

If true, the accusations against Martin are a setback for the Obama administration, which has sustained a series of disclosures of classified information.

Along with Snowden’s revelations, the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks in 2010 disclosed hundreds of thousands of documents from the State and Defense departments. After the Snowden disclosures, the administration took steps to put measures in place to prevent the unauthorized disclosures of classified information.

Obama administration spokesman Josh Earnest defended the administration’s procedures for protecting national-security information, saying Wednesday that since Snowden’s disclosures, agencies have tightened security measures.

He cited the creation of a task force that sets and monitors security requirements for agencies that handle classified information, and an overhaul of the government’s background-check process, including adding more frequent updates.

The administration has also slashed the number of employees that have access to classified information, Earnest said, reducing it by 17 percent in the past couple of years.

Another administration official said investigators suspected that Martin began taking the material before Snowden’s actions became public, adding that changes put into place after Snowden’s theft would not have stopped Martin. “This is something that has its origins certainly before Snowden came on the scene, so many of the [changes] … that have been in place since 2013 wouldn’t be relevant to stopping what happened,” the official said.

The information believed to have been stolen by Martin appears to be different in nature from Snowden’s theft, which included documents that described the depth and breadth of the NSA’s surveillance.

Martin is suspected of taking the highly classified computer code developed by the agency to break into computer systems of adversaries such as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

Several officials said that at the moment, it did not look like a traditional espionage case, but the FBI has not ruled anything out.

Martin does not fit any of the usual profiles of an “insider threat,” and one administration official said investigators thought that he was not politically motivated: “not like a Snowden or someone who believes that what we were doing was illegal and wanted to publicize that.”

Martin, a native of Wisconsin, has degrees in economics and information systems and has been working for a decade on a doctorate in computer science. Neighbors described him as cordial and helpful but knew little about his work.

Martin is believed to have worked for Booz Allen for less than a decade. He was in the Navy for five years, according to Pentagon records. He served as a lieutenant aboard the Seattle, a combat support ship, during the 1991 U.S.-led invasion aimed at ousting Iraqi forces from Kuwait, and was awarded the Kuwait Liberation Medal. He later joined the Navy Reserve, becoming inactive in 2000.

Martin’s wife, Deborah Vinson, spoke briefly to a reporter Wednesday as she carried groceries into the brick house with blue siding and an American flag next to the door. She called Martin “a good man.”

“I am standing by my husband, and I love him very much,” she said before returning inside without further comment.

Law-enforcement officials said the FBI was investigating the possibility that he had collected the files with no intention of passing them along.

That by itself would represent a serious security vulnerability, but it would put Martin in the company of countless other senior Washington officials who have been caught taking classified information home.

Samuel Berger, a former national-security adviser, stole classified documents from the National Archives and hid them under a construction trailer. Alberto Gonzales took home documents about the nation’s warrantless-wiretapping program while he was attorney general.

One official described Martin as a hoarder.

Law-enforcement officials are also looking into whether Martin was able to pass the information on, but are also entertaining a theory that he took it with that intention and then did not follow through.

Many questions remain about Martin’s case, including when and how authorities learned this identity, and when they believe he began taking information.

It is also not known if the case has any connection to the leak of classified NSA code in August attributed to a group calling itself the Shadow Brokers, or whether he had any role in a series of leaks of NSA intercepts involving Japan, Germany and other countries that WikiLeaks has published since last year.

“We’re struggling to figure him out,” one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The United States Department of Justice charges a top secret security clearance National Security Agency contractor, Harold Thomas Martin III, with theft of government property and unauthorised removal of "highly classified" materials.