# Ex-CIA Engineer Set To Go On Trial For Vault 7 Leak

**URL:** <https://onehack.st/t/ex-cia-engineer-set-to-go-on-trial-for-vault-7-leak/68411>\
**Category:** News & Articles\
**Tags:** learning, hacking, news\
**Created:** [February 4, 2020, 7:25am UTC](https://onehack.st/t/ex-cia-engineer-set-to-go-on-trial-for-vault-7-leak/68411 "2020-02-04T07:25:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![TheJoker](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/thejoker/32/22660_2.png) [@TheJoker](https://onehack.st/u/TheJoker)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 7:25am UTC](https://onehack.st/t/ex-cia-engineer-set-to-go-on-trial-for-vault-7-leak/68411/1 "2020-02-04T07:25:14Z")

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## An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR:

Manhattan federal prosecutors are poised to open their case Tuesday in the trial of a former software engineer for the Central Intelligence Agency who is [charged with handing over a trove of classified information on the spy agency’s hacking operations to WikiLeaks](https://www.wsj.com/articles/ex-cia-engineer-goes-on-trial-for-massive-leak-11580741119)_(Warning: source paywalled; [alternative source](https://www.npr.org/2020/02/03/802269834/ex-cia-employee-accused-of-leaking-documents-to-wikileaks-goes-on-trial))._ In 2017, WikiLeaks released more than 8,000 pages of secret materials – which the antisecrecy organization [called "Vault 7](https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/03/07/2124251/wikileaks-cia-files-the-6-biggest-spying-secrets-revealed-by-the-release-of-vault-7)" – detailing the CIA’s cyberespionage arsenal, including the agency’s playbook for hacking smartphones, computer operating systems, messaging applications and internet-connected televisions. It was one of the largest breaches in the agency’s history. Federal prosecutors say the defendant, Joshua Schulte, stole the documents when he worked in a CIA unit that designed the hacking tools.

[![](https://static.politico.com/dims4/default/bf2a61f/2147483647/resize/1160x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2F35%2Fdf%2F0fa489cf431d9e7de4d67ccf9d8d%2Fcia.jpg) ](https://static.politico.com/dims4/default/bf2a61f/2147483647/resize/1160x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2F35%2Fdf%2F0fa489cf431d9e7de4d67ccf9d8d%2Fcia.jpg)

_Mr. Schulte, 31 years old, faces 11 criminal counts, including illegal gathering and transmission of national defense information – charges that derive from the Espionage Act, a statute that has been applied in other WikiLeaks cases. Some of the charges relate to Mr. Schulte’s alleged misconduct and obstruction following his 2017 arrest – prosecutors say he lied to law enforcement and disobeyed court orders. Mr. Schulte and his lawyers have called the espionage charges vague and overreaching, saying they infringed on constitutional free-speech rights. They have alleged fatal errors in the government’s case, objected to the secrecy shrouding the investigation and protested Mr. Schulte’s isolated confinement in a Manhattan jail. Opening arguments in the trial are expected as soon as Tuesday, once jury selection is completed._