Federal prosecutors in Baltimore on Thursday said they will charge a former National Security Agency contractor with violating the Espionage Act, alleging that he made off with “an astonishing quantity” of classified digital and other data in what is thought to be the largest theft of classified government material.
In a 12-page memo, U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein and two other prosecutors laid out a much more far-reaching case against Harold Martin III than was previously outlined. They said he took at least 50 terabytes of data and “six full banker’s boxes worth of documents,” with many lying open in his home office or kept on his car’s back seat and in the trunk. Other material was stored in a shed on his property.
The prosecutors also said Martin had an “arsenal” of weapons in his home and car, including an assault-rifle-style tactical weapon and a pistol-grip shotgun with a flash suppressor.
Martin, who will appear at a detention hearing in U.S. District Court in Baltimore today, also took personal information about government employees as well dozens of computers, thumb drives and other digital storage devices over two decades, the government alleged.
In a complaint unsealed earlier this month, the government charged him with felony theft of government property and the unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials, a misdemeanor. Conviction under the Espionage Act could send Martin to prison for up to 10 years on each count and is considered the most serious of the charges.
Prosecutors will argue today that Martin, 51, of Glen Burnie, Md, presents “a high risk of flight, a risk to the nation and to the physical safety of others,” and that he should not be released from jail.
“The case against the defendant thus far is overwhelming, and the investigation is ongoing,” he said. “The defendant knows, and, if no longer detained, may have access to, a substantial amount of highly classified information, which he has flagrantly mishandled and could easily disseminate to others.”
Continued detention without bail is necessary, prosecutors said, because of “the grave and severe danger that pretrial release of the defendant would pose to the national security of the United States.”
Martin’s attorneys are expected to file their own memo before the hearing.
The government also alleged that he took a top-secret document detailing “specific operational plans against a known enemy of the United States.” Prosecutors did not name the enemy. The document, prosecutors said, contained a warning, in capital letters, that said: “This conop (concept of operations) contains information concerning extremely sensitive U.S. planning and operations that will be discussed and disseminated only on an absolute need to know basis. Extreme opsec (operational security) precautions must be taken.”
Martin was not involved in the operation, the government said, and had no need to have the document or know its specifics.
Another document found in his car contained handwritten notes describing NSA’s classified computer systems and detailed descriptions of classified technical operations, the prosecutors said. The notes also included descriptions of basic concepts associated with classified operations, as though intended for a general public audience, they said.
In an interview before his arrest, Martin initially lied to investigators, prosecutors said, denying having taken classified material. Only when confronted with specific documents did he admit that he took what he knew to be classified files.
Martin had access to classified data beginning in 1996 with the U.S. Navy Reserve, and that access continued through his employment with seven private government contractors.
