Upon
Harold Martin’s arrest in 2016, an Obama administration official
said his case was being kept under wraps “to keep this guy from
becoming another NSA martyr.” The tactic seems to be have paid
dividends.
by
Whitney Webb
Part
2 - Hoarder or whistleblower?
While
most recent reporting on Martin’s case has focused exclusively on
legal proceedings and how Martin will plead, there has been little
examination of the facts that don’t seem to fit with Martin’s
portrayal as a loner with a hoarding disorder.
According
to court documents, Martin’s case is just as complex as the man
himself, making it difficult to ascribe his intent. For one thing,
Martin’s habit of taking government documents home remained
undetected for over 20 years – even after tightening of security
following the Snowden leaks – and he extensively used
“sophisticated encryption, anonymization, and virtual machine
technologies” to hide his actions online.
He also
possessed “remote data storage accounts” as well as
“encrypted communication and cloud storage apps installed on his
mobile device.” Federal prosecutors have also asserted that
Martin “was in possession of a sophisticated software tool which
runs without being installed on a computer and provided anonymous
internet access, leaving no digital footprint.” And they have
asserted that Martin “communicated online with others in
languages other than English, including Russian” via an
encrypted connection.
In
addition, Martin’s cache of documents, stored at his home and in
his car, were accompanied by “handwritten notes [that] also
include descriptions of the most basic concepts associated with
classified operations, as if the notes were intended for an audience
outside of the Intelligence Community unfamiliar with the details of
its operations.”
Martin
was also heavily armed, a fact that was apparently unknown to his
wife, who was shocked when the FBI removed 10 firearms from his
residence, including an AR-style tactical rifle and a shotgun with a
flash suppressor. Only two of the weapons were registered.
He also
initially lied to authorities about the thefts of the documents, only
admitting his unauthorized removal of the documents when confronted
with examples of the classified information found in his possession.
There is
also evidence suggesting that Martin may not be as “apolitical”
as his defense has sought to portray him. Court documents reveal that
he often complained about the NSA’s incompetence, claiming in one
letter that his co-workers were “missing most of the basics in
security practice.” In addition, Martin — who served in
Operation Desert Storm — was deeply affected by his experiences in
the military and, according to a former mentor, showed an “intense
personal and professional interest in the post-traumatic stress
disorder.”
However,
the most compelling evidence that there is more to this case is how
Martin’s theft of classified documents was discovered. According to
The New York Times, federal investigators stumbled upon Martin’s
trove of documents, investigating him only after uncovering a comment
Martin had posted online – the contents of which are still unknown
– made him a prime suspect in the “Shadow Brokers” leak.
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