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A2 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 10 March 2020

Minor convictions for ex-CIA

coder in hacking tools case

By LARRY NEUMEISTER and jury deadlocked on the door in a CIA network to
JIM MUSTIAN more serious espionage copy the hacking arsenal
Associated Press counts against him. without raising suspicion,
NEW YORK (AP) — A former Joshua Schulte, who in what was said to be the
CIA software engineer ac- worked as a coder at the largest leak in CIA history
cused of stealing a mas- agency's headquarters involving classified informa-
sive trove of the agency's in Langley, Virginia, was tion.

In this courtroom sketch Joshua Schulte, center, is seated at the hacking tools and hand- convicted by a jury of con- It was only after the anti-
defense table flanked by his attorneys during jury deliberations, ing it over to WikiLeaks was tempt of court and mak- secrecy group WikiLeaks
Wednesday March 4, 2020, in New York. convicted of only minor ing false statements after a published the so-called
Associated Press charges Monday, after a four-week trial in Manhat- Vault 7 leak in 2017 — near-
tan federal court that of- ly a year after the theft
fered an unusual window — that the agency scram-
into the CIA's digital sleuth- bled to determine how the
ing and the team that de- information had been sto-
signs computer code to len. It identified Schulte, a
spy on foreign adversaries. 31-year-old originally from
After deliberating since last Lubbock, Texas, as the
week, the jury was unable prime suspect.
to reach a verdict on the Schulte had left the agen-
more significant charges. cy on stormy terms after
They had notified U.S. Dis- falling out with colleagues
trict Judge Paul A. Crotty and supervisors, and pros-
on Friday that they had ecutors described the leak
reached consensus on two as an act of revenge.
counts, but were unable to The data dump revealed
reach a verdict on eight CIA efforts to hack Apple
others. and Android smartphones
After they were instructed and even described efforts
to resume deliberations to turn internet-connected
Monday, jurors sent a note televisions into listening de-
saying they were "extreme- vices.
ly deadlocked." "These leaks were devas-
One juror said as she left tating to national secu-
the courthouse that the rity," Assistant U.S. Attorney
jury was always split down Matthew Laroche told ju-
the middle on the most se- rors. "The CIA's cyber tools
rious counts, although the were gone in an instant.
jury was composed of only Intelligence gathering op-
11 people after one juror erations around the world
was dismissed last week stopped immediately."
when she told the panel But the defense said the
she had come across news prosecution failed to pres-
about the Schulte case be- ent a clear case or show
fore the trial. how they could be sure
Juror Alexis Anthony said Schulte was the culprit.
she never thought the evi- Even after presenting a
dence was strong enough month of testimony, 18 wit-
to convict Schulte of espio- nesses and more than 1,000
nage-related charges. exhibits, "the government
"For me, I never felt the bur- still is not able to answer for
den of proof was proved," you the very basic ques-
she said. tions," defense attorney
Prosecutors portrayed Sabrina Shroff told jurors.
Schulte as a disgruntled "There are more questions
software engineer who ex- now than when this trial first
ploited a little-known back began."q