The New York Times has reported the arrest by the FBI of a U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor and an investigation into whether he stole and disclosed highly classified computer “source code” developed to hack into the networks of Russia, Iran, China, North Korea, and other countries.
The U.S. Justice Department on October 5 confirmed the arrest of a 51-year-old government contractor in Maryland named Harold Thomas Martin.
It said he has been charged with the theft of classified government material.
The New York Times report on October 5 said he was arrested in recent weeks and had worked for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton -- the same firm as the whistle-blowing former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
According to The New York Times report, the information stolen in the latest incident differs from Snowden’s 2013 disclosures of the collection of private data by the NSA.