US: Ex-NSA contractor pleads guilty to document theft

By Umar Farooq

WASHINGTON (AA) - A former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing highly classified government documents, according to multiple reports.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Harold Thomas Martin III, 54, in 2016, and documents containing highly classified information were found in Martin's home and car.

Officials reportedly found over 50 terabytes of data at his residence.

Martin pleaded guilty to one count of the willful retention of national defense information at a hearing held in Baltimore, according to The Washington Times.

Six classified documents contained sensitive intelligence information, the Justice Department said.

Martin had a top secret security clearance at the time of his arrest, according to court documents, and he admitted to taking the documents and digital files “that he knew were classified”.

By entering the plea deal, the 19 other counts he was charged with were dropped, and prosecutors recommended a sentence of nine years for Martin, according to WJZ, a Baltimore news affiliate for CBS News.

The case echoes that of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who has evaded capture following his public disclosure in 2013 of mass government surveillance programs that stunned Americans and the global public.

Snowden resides in Russia, where he has received temporary asylum.