Vault 8 source found?

Karl gmkarl at gmail.com
Fri Dec 10 01:31:23 PST 2021


Appendix C

>
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Schulte

Joshua Adam Schulte (born September 25, 1988) is a former Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee who was accused of being involved in a
2016 leak of classified documents to WikiLeaks, the Vault 7 documents,
which The New York Times called "the largest loss of classified documents
in the agency's history and a huge embarrassment for C.I.A.
officials."[2][3]

Joshua Schulte
Schulte MCC cell phone (cropped).png
Schulte incarcerated inside the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York
Born
September 25, 1988 (age 33)
Nationality
American
Other names
Kinetic Panda[1]
Occupation
Software Engineer
Employer
Central Intelligence Agency
Known for
Alleged involvement in the leak of classified information to WikiLeaks
Career Edit
Schulte graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2011 with a
degree in computer engineering. While studying at the University of Texas,
he began working for IBM. Then, from January 2010 to May 2010, he was
employed as a systems engineer by the National Security Agency (NSA),
including time spent within the Technology Directorate.[4]

Around the time that he ended his employment with the NSA, he began working
for the CIA as a software engineer. By November 2016, he had left the CIA
to move to New York, and, up until his arrest and detention on August 24,
2017,[5][6] worked as a senior software engineer for Bloomberg LP.[7]

Leaks of classified information Edit
Schulte allegedly stole backup files from a program called Confluence on
April 20, 2016, prior to the program's hacking tools being leaked.[8] On
March 7, 2017, WikiLeaks began to publish content code-named "Vault 7". The
confidential documents, dated from 2013–2016, included details on the CIA's
software capabilities, such as the ability to compromise cars, smart
TVs,[9] web browsers,[10][11][12] and popular operating systems.[13]

On May 15, 2018, both The Washington Post and The New York Times published
news articles about Schulte being a suspect in a federal investigation
concerning the unauthorized disclosure of classified information to
WikiLeaks.[3][2]

Later that same day, the government "alerted the court to a violation, a
potential breach of the protective order" in which "various search warrants
and search warrant affidavits" were leaked to the press. The government
alleged that Schulte, while in the course of making phone calls from prison
sometime in May 2018, had distributed "Protected Search Warrant Materials
to his family members for purposes of dissemination to other third parties,
including members of the media," some of which included classified
information.[14] In the government's view, they considered this "a clear
breach of the protective order. It is unacceptable, particularly
unacceptable given that this defendant has a pattern of violating the
Court's orders."[15]

About a month later, on June 18, 2018, the grand jury issued a superseding
indictment, adding ten more counts to the original three: illegal gathering
of national defense information, illegal transmission of lawfully possessed
national defense information, illegal transmission of unlawfully possessed
national defense information, unauthorized access to a computer to obtain
classified information, theft of government property, unauthorized access
to a computer to obtain information from a department or agency of the
United States, causing transmission of a harmful computer program,
information, code, or command, making false statements, obstruction of
justice, and criminal copyright infringement.[16]

An additional superseding indictment was issued on October 31, 2018, which
added two more charges—contempt of court, and illegal transmission and
attempted transmission of unlawfully possessed national defense
information—bringing the amount to a total of fifteen.[17]

Outlined in a letter to the court later that day, the government revealed
that Schulte had been—within a period sometime in early October
2018—discovered using "one or more smuggled contraband cellphones to
communicate clandestinely with third parties" outside of New York's
Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he was being held, and that the
grand jury had issued "dozens of subpoenas and pen register orders,"
revealing that Schulte was using "approximately 13 email and social media
accounts (including encrypted email accounts)."[14]

Discovery Edit
See also: Discovery (law) § United States
During a court hearing on August 8, 2018, counsel for Schulte told the
court that they believed "that the government owes Mr. Schulte a Brady
disclosure." In response, the government said they were "prepared to make
all appropriate disclosures as soon as possible."[18] The government
delivered a Brady disclosure to Schulte on September 25, 2018.[19]

On December 12, 2018, the court imposed severe security measures in the
areas containing discovery material. Since then, Schulte has been required
to be in full restraints and secured to a bolt in the floor while in the
Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), and stripped searched
upon leaving the SCIF at the end of each session.[20]

On February 12, 2019, the government informed the court that, in consulting
with the Metropolitan Correctional Center, it was determined that "the hard
drives containing the defendant's discovery were misplaced," but another
copy would be provided.[21]

Sex crimes allegations Edit
During a raid of Schulte's Manhattan apartment on March 15, 2017, as well
as at least one more on March 23, 2017,[22] federal agents confiscated
approximately 60 electronic devices, including a desktop computer locked
under three layers of encryption.[23]

On March 20, 2017, investigators returned to Schulte's apartment and asked
for consent to search his cell phone. According to his counsel, "Schulte,
in front of the agents, opened the phone, put in the password, handed it
over to them to make sure that nothing on the phone could be destroyed or
altered and handed it right to the authorities." Afterwards, through
technical analysis, agents retrieved passwords from his cell phone that
unlocked multiple layers of encryption on his desktop computer,[24] where
investigators discovered a single classified document as well as over
10,000 images and videos depicting child pornography including "sadistic
and masochistic images and videos of children as young as a few years old
who had been brutally sexually assaulted." The government found that
Schulte had "neatly organized" this material "according to his preferences,
and stored it for a period of years."[22] In the government's view, there
was "no set of circumstances that can confidently assure the Court that
he's not going to continue to try to download child pornography, encourage
others to download it and share it and just generally engage in very
dangerous sexual activity."[5]

The government argued that Schulte was "both a flight risk and a danger to
the community." Defense counsel countered that Schulte "had no basis of
knowing if there's any alleged child pornography or had any reason to
believe that he was in any way, shape or form in contact with any child
pornography." The court concluded that Schulte's contention of being
victimized by people who used his servers to store child pornography
without his knowledge or consent "just doesn't seem likely" and ordered
that he be detained.[5]

Three weeks later, on September 6, 2017, Schulte was indicted by a grand
jury in the Southern District of New York on suspicion of receipt of child
pornography, possession of child pornography, and transportation of child
pornography.[25] A week later, Schulte entered a plea of not guilty,[23]
and was released on bail two days afterward.

On November 15, 2017, the Loudoun County, Virginia Commonwealth's
Attorney's Office determined that they had enough evidence based on
pictures supplied by the FBI to charge Schulte with two crimes: object
sexual penetration and the unlawful creation of an image of another. On
December 7, 2017, at the request of the FBI, Schulte was arrested by NYPD
officers in connection to the charges in Virginia.[26]

On December 14, 2017, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul A. Crotty revoked bail in
New York and had Schulte remanded to the custody of the United States
Marshal of the Southern District of New York.[27][28] Schulte has since
been detained at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.[14]

Trial Edit
Schulte's trial on charges of disclosing classified information to
WikiLeaks, after allegedly stealing it from the secretive CIA unit where he
worked, began in New York on February 4, 2020, with opening statements by
the respective sides.[29] Federal prosecutors asserted that Schulte
committed "the single biggest leak of classified national defense
information in the history of the CIA" to take revenge on his former
colleagues and bosses. Schulte's lead defense attorney, Sabrina Shroff,
told jurors that her client was "a pain in the ass to everyone at the CIA,"
but argued that "Being a difficult employee does not make you a criminal."
Schulte pleaded not guilty.[29]

On March 9, 2020, after hearing four weeks of testimony and deliberating
for six days, the jury convicted Schulte on two counts: contempt of court
and making false statements to the FBI. However, jurors were deadlocked on
eight other counts, including the most serious of illegal gathering and
transmission of national defense information. Although the judge declared a
mistrial, the government can retry the case. Additionally, Schulte faces a
separate federal trial on charges of possessing child pornography.[30]

References Edit
 "USA vs. Schulte" (PDF). August 31, 2021. p. 18. Kinetic Panda (KP) was
interviewed by FBI New York Special Agents Jeff D. DONALDSON and Richard J.
EVANECH at different locations in New York between March 15, 2017 and March
16, 2017.
 Scott Shane, Adam Goldman (15 May 2018). "Suspect Identified in C.I.A.
Leak Was Charged, but Not for the Breach". Archived from the original on 20
March 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
 Harris, Shane (15 May 2018). "U.S. identifies suspect in major leak of CIA
hacking tools". Archived from the original on 20 March 2019. Retrieved 16
March 2019.
 Wolff, Josephine (June 20, 2018). "The Feds Love to Stack Charges When It
Comes to Cybercrime". Slate. Archived from the original on June 21, 2018.
Retrieved June 20, 2018.
 Southern District of New York (24 August 2017). "Court transcript
Aug-24-2017" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 December 2018.
Retrieved 16 March 2019.
 Southern District of New York (24 August 2017). "Order of Detention
Pending Trian Aug-24-2017" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17
December 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
 Cleary, Tom (May 15, 2018). "Joshua Schulte: 5 Fast Facts You Need to
Know". Heavy. Archived from the original on May 16, 2018. Retrieved May 15,
2018.
 Ben Feuerherd; Jorge Fitz-Gibbon (March 9, 2020). "Mistrial declared at
federal trial of accused CIA leaker Joshua Schulte". nypost.com. Retrieved
March 10, 2020.
 Shane, Scott; Mazzetti, Mark; Rosenberg, Matthew (March 7, 2017).
"WikiLeaks Releases Trove of Alleged C.I.A. Hacking Documents". The New
York Times. Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved March 7,
2017.
 Greenberg, Andy (March 7, 2017). "How the CIA Can Hack Your Phone, PC, and
TV (Says WikiLeaks)". Wired. Archived from the original on March 20, 2019.
Retrieved April 8, 2017.
 Murdock, Jason (March 7, 2017). "Vault 7: CIA hacking tools were used to
spy on iOS, Android and Samsung smart TVs". International Business Times.
Archived from the original on April 9, 2017. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
 "WikiLeaks posts trove of CIA documents detailing mass hacking". CBS News.
March 7, 2017. Archived from the original on March 19, 2017. Retrieved
April 8, 2017.
 Page, Carly (March 7, 2017). "Vault 7: Wikileaks reveals details of CIA's
hacks of Android, iPhone Windows, Linux, MacOS, and even Samsung TVs".
Computing. Archived from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved April
12, 2019.
 Southern District of New York (31 October 2018). "Govt Letter to Judge
Crotty Oct-31-2018" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 December
2018. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
 Southern District of New York (21 May 2018). "Court transcript
May-21-2018" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 December 2018.
Retrieved 16 March 2019.
 Southern District of New York (18 June 2018). "Superseding Indictment
Jun-18-2018" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 December 2018.
Retrieved 16 March 2019.
 Southern District of New York (31 October 2018). "Superseding Indictment
Oct-31-2018" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 December 2018.
Retrieved 16 March 2019.
 Southern District of New York (8 August 2018). "Court transcript
Aug-08-2018" (PDF).
 Southern District of New York (29 October 2018). "Court transcript
Oct-29-2018" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 November 2018.
Retrieved 16 March 2019.
 Southern District of New York (12 December 2018). "Supplemental Protective
Order Dec-12-2018" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 December
2018. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
 Southern District of New York (12 February 2019). "Discovery Update MCC
Misplaced Hard Drives Feb-12-2019" (PDF).
 Poulsen, Kevin (May 16, 2018). "Exclusive: CIA 'Leaker' Josh Schulte
Posted Agency Code Online—And CIA Never Noticed". Slate. Archived from the
original on May 16, 2018. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
 Southern District of New York (13 September 2017). "Court transcript
Sep-13-2017" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 December 2018.
Retrieved 16 March 2019.
 Southern District of New York (23 August 2017). "FBI Complaint
Aug-23-2017" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 December 2018.
Retrieved 16 March 2019.
 Southern District of New York (6 September 2017). "Indictment Sep-06-2017"
(PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 16
March 2019.
 Southern District of New York (7 December 2017). "Govt letter to Judge
Crotty Dec-07-2017" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April
2019. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
 Southern District of New York (14 December 2017). "Court Transcript
Dec-14-2017" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 December 2018.
Retrieved 16 March 2019.
 Southern District of New York (14 December 2017). "Letter from Judge
Crotty Dec-14-2017" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 December
2018. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
 Harris, Shane (4 February 2020). "Trial begins for former CIA employee
accused of leaking agency hacking tools". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5
February 2020.
 Hong, Nicole (March 9, 2020). "Trial of Programmer Accused in C.I.A. Leak
Ends in Hung Jury". The New York Times. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
External links Edit
Trial transcripts United States of America v. Joshua Adam Schulte (2020) in
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Last edited 3 months ago by Codyave
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