Ex-CIA Developer Faces 40-Year Sentence for Leaking Classified Data to WikiLeaks

In a multi-charged case that involved the disclosure of classified documents to WikiLeaks, Joshua A Schulte, a former CIA software engineer, was sentenced to 40 years for multiple counts of espionage and computer hacking, as well as one count of lying to FBI agents after handing over classified materials to WikiLeaks in 2022, he was found guilty of four counts of espionage and computer hacking in 2022. 

According to US authorities, Schulte was the cause of the largest breach in CIA history, because his alleged contributions to WikiLeaks have been regarded as one of the largest unauthorized disclosures of classified information ever made by the United States. 

Approximately eight thousand classified documents detailing CIA hacking tools were released on WikiLeaks in 2017 as part of an incident dubbed Vault 7, in which 8761 classified documents were made available. 

The trial on March 9, 2020, July 13, 2022, and September 13, 2023, led Schulte to become the prime suspect and face multiple convictions at trials that concluded on that date. US spies used the leak, which the CIA dubbed a “digital Pearl Harbor,” to hack Apple and Android smartphones, as well as to hack internet-connected television sets and turn them into listening devices, the CIA dubbed a “digital Pearl Harbor.” 

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