Contractor arrested for NSA breach

A Booz Allen Hamilton employee has been charged with stealing classified documents and perhaps classified computer code from the National Security Agency.

So far, the company isn’t commenting, but the Justice Department said that Harold Thomas Martin III was arrested on Aug. 27 and has remained in jail ever since.

The criminal complaint against Martin was unsealed today (Oct. 5). The arrest was announced by John Carlin, assistant attorney general for national security, Rod Rosenstein, U.S. attorney for Maryland and Gordon Johnson, special agent in charge at the FBI’s Baltimore field office.

On Aug. 27, the FBI searched Martin’s Glen Burnie, Md., home, including two storage sheds as well as his vehicle. The search uncovered hard-copy documents and digital information that was stored on various devices and removable storage devices.

The documents were marked as Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information. The search also found $1,000 worth of stolen government property.

According to the Justice Department, disclosure of these documents would reveal sensitive sources, methods and capabilities that would damage U.S. national security.

While the Justice Department release doesn’t name the National Security Agency, other news organizations are reporting that Martin was an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton working at the NSA.

If convicted, Martin faces a year in prison for removing the documents and 10 years in prison for allegedly stealing government property.

According to a New York Times article, Martin is suspected of taking computer code used to break into computer systems of adversaries like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

The Times also quotes sources as saying that some of the material Martin is alleged to have possessed was dated and may have been taken before Edward Snowden's NSA breach was made public.

Both Martin and Snowden were employed by Booz Allen as contractors at NSA.