The Booz Allen Hamilton contractor who allegedly took classified information from the National Security Agency may just be a “weirdo,” current and former agency officials say, rather than a whistleblower or spy.
“It’s not a repeat of Snowden, but it is another insider,” former NSA Deputy Director Chris Inglis said in an interview with ABC News. “It could be quite harmful, but [so far] it’s not as malicious or nefarious.”
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The Justice Department on Wednesday announced it had arrested Harold Thomas Martin, a 51-year-old PhD student and Navy veteran who goes by “Hal,” for taking classified information home with him. Current NSA officials described Martin, who worked in the agency’s Tailored Access Operations division, as “more weirdo than whistleblower.”
Martin’s Aug. 27 arrest came just weeks after information from TAO, which specializes in hacking governments, was leaked online, published by an organization calling itself “Shadow Brokers” that said it was seeking to sell the info for $500 million.
However, observers noted the information appeared to be old, dating to October 2013. WikiLeaks promptly offered to publish a “pristine copy” of the data that it said had been provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who left the agency in May of that year.
The Shadow Brokers never appeared to finalize the sale. Experts have suggested the entire operation was a ruse, probably contrived by a foreign government, intended to embarrass the NSA rather than a legitimate effort to make a profit.
The description of 51-year-old Martin as a “weirdo” comes after former NSA operative and counterintelligence officer John Schindler suggested as much in a column on Wednesday evening. “Let me say that, as a former NSA counterintelligence officer, people seldom take classified information home with them just once.
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“There are only two reasons why anybody risks jail by illegally removing secrets from the office. Either you’re seeking to sell them to a foreign intelligence service, or you’re just a weirdo who does that sort of thing for fun,” Schindler wrote.
Jim Wyda, a public defender assigned to the case, described Martin as a patriot. “What we do know is that Hal Martin loves his family and his country. He served our nation honorably in the United States Navy, and he has devoted his entire career to serving and protecting America.
“We look forward to defending Hal Martin in court,” Wyda said.
