WASHINGTON_Federal prosecutors said Wednesday they had arrested a National Security Agency contractor and charged him with stealing classified intelligence documents and digital files, the second time in three years that a contractor has been accused of taking secrets related to the ultra-secret agency's surveillance programs.
Harold Thomas Martin III, of Glen Burnie, Md., was secretly arrested in August after an FBI search of his vehicle and residence found "hard copy documents and digital information stored on various devices," including "six classified documents obtained from sensitive intelligence" from 2014, according to a Justice Department complaint unsealed on Wednesday.
Although the complaint offered no details, prosecutors alleged that the documents and digital files are "critical to a wide variety of national security issues" and that they reveal "sensitive sources, methods and capabilities" whose disclosure "could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States."
The complaint charges Martin, who had a top-secret security clearance, with unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials, which carries a maximum one-year sentence in prison if convicted. He also is charged with theft of government property, an offense punishable by up to 10 years behind bars if convicted.
Although the charges are relatively light, the case is potentially explosive because Martin worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, the same defense contractor that employed Edward Snowden, who copied more than a million documents and files in 2013 related to NSA surveillance, which he later gave to journalists. Snowden, who was charged with espionage, is now a fugitive.
Booz Allen Hamilton said in a statement that it had fired Martin after learning of his arrest. "We continue to cooperate fully with the government into its investigation of this critical matter," the company said.
Martin, 51, was not charged with espionage or with passing the documents to a foreign government or anyone else. Officials said the case was kept sealed for more than a month to give investigators time to examine whether such disclosures had occurred.
During the FBI search of his residence on Aug. 27, Martin initially denied that he taken any documents but he later changed his story, according to an FBI affidavit in the complaint.
"During the interview Martin at first denied, and later when confronted with specific documents admitted he took documents and digital files," it said.
"Martin stated that he knew what he had done was wrong and that he should not have done it because he knew it was unauthorized," the affidavit added.
"This was done intentionally and when you are a government employee you swear an oath to protect sensitive information," Assistant Attorney General John Carlin, head of the Justice Department's national security division, said in an interview on CNBC.
Martin has been in custody since a federal court appearance after his arrest in August.
Martin's home in Glen Burnie is within 10 miles of NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, Md.
