I'm not sure which it is. One thing's certain, though: She's in a bunch of hot water now.

be...somewhat dysfunctional for lack of more precise words. They end up hurting themselves badly, and as we get to know them better it becomes clear that they didn't only nobly fall on their swords to benefit their country but also because they're people who shouldn't have been trusted to handle their sword safely in the first place.

Must have been worth it to her though.


We already KNOW Russia hacked the election, including voter roles. That came out in the 1st Senate IC report.

What was the big rush to get this added classified info out NOW?

That's why I believe she did this on purpose, knowing she would probably be caught. Civil disobedience.

"Winner faces up to 10 years in prison for leaking classified information. Winner's court-appointed attorney, Titus Nichols, said a detention hearing will take place on Thursday in Augusta, where the judge will determine whether to release her on bond. Winner did not enter a plea in her initial appearance Monday."


Maybe I am over-assuming that the report would have come out eventually but for some reason she thought it was imperative to release.

I think she'll be out on bond shortly, and probably won't actually face a 10-year sentence, really. Whether it was crucial to release that document or not is open to question. It's certainly out there now, so it will be a point of discussion during the investigations, without any doubt. Perhaps that was her goal.

In itself, it's not that shocking a revelation, and hints of such hacking were already known. But, releasing the actual document does bring it to the forefront.

Ah well- like you said - her decision, her risk, her reward(?).

ETA:

She definitely is no dummy!

"Winner was a linguist in the US Air Force in Maryland who speaks Pashto, Farsi and Dari, her mother, Billie Winner said."

I was a Russian linguist, courtesy of the USAF. That's not classified information. It's on my DD 214.

I don't think she is.

Oddly enough , back in the day, I dated a woman who sounds exactly like her and was that age. She was a captain in the Air Force when we were dating. She was in military intelligence. She truly was one of the most ignorant people I ever met. Very cute, but hoo boy, not a lot of brain power. I chalked it up to her age at the time (I was older), but as time progressed I realized it wasn't her age to blame lol.

She later went to work for the NSA, and I remember commenting to mutual friends how scary that was. Too funny. We remained friends until she took umbrage at a post I made about TSA's incompetence lol. For some reason, she took that personally.

Of course, that was a completely different person, but the parallels struck me immediately.

Her social media signal is way too open to think she takes personal security seriously.

herself deliberately. She's not stupid or she wouldn't have been in that position in the first place.

I'm not criticizing her in any way. It was a brave, if foolish, thing to do.

They're just people like everyone else. Typically they keep those venues separate from their work, of course.

I'm glad she determined the information shared was too important to leave up to elected officials and agencies that pride themselves on secrecy.

We may still learn more about why from her.

I have zero concern for her. She is a patriot and will face the music.

We have it now, although it doesn't surprise me all that much, really.

That doesn't negate it's importance. Monumentally important information.

something to say about this tomorrow in his committee testimony. He will certainly be asked, anyhow.

I'm pretty sure this information would have been part of what was released to the congressional committees, but perhaps not in a public way. So, now it's out in public. As I said, she's a brave person.

I'm extremely glad Winner didn't rely on "pretty sure" when talking about intelligence agencies and elected officials. True patriot.

Being a writer, it is had for me not to consider elaborate plot twists.

Perhaps she has a lot more to tell and wants to be in some type of protective custody when she tells it. I am certain she is a patriot and cannot imagine that she is naive, given her background. Perhaps she too has a story to tell and was willing to roll the dice on a prison sentence, rather than being whacked?

Again, I tend toward the overly dramatic plot twist.

Perhaps we'll learn more as time passes. I think she's a very bright person, but that does not mean she is not naive. I just don't know, but I do believe she knew she would be caught. I can't imagine not understanding that, really.

They could've helped her tons more than Greenwald.

Oh, never mind. He does have fans, though, although I can't imagine why that is.

If the NSA or FBI asked them not to.

My guess.

as clumsily as The Intercept did.

Completely.

she probably would have been caught eventually but they went to another contractor to confirm the documents and that contractor informed the Government. The Intercept put the 2nd source in jeopardy by doing that.

You'd think they'd have better practices in place, and frankly, I hope their org implodes because of it.

And there it is.

and make an example out of her. Fits their going on the offensive methods. She could be in deep shit...

prosecutors. In prosecuting, often even more information becomes public. Her risk extends only to a possible 10-year sentence, which is something she knew in advance. The nature of the document isn't all that damaging to national security, really, especially with the redactions. So, prosecution is a difficult question for the DOJ, really. No doubt they'll consider a full-scale prosecution, but it's more likely that there would be a plea deal with a much-reduced sentence.

It's complicated to prosecute cases involving highly-classified materials, really.

We might have found out, but we might not have. Brave young woman.

If her contractor bosses and coworkers didn't seem too concerned about security, she may have thought nobody would notice.

I'm not convinced privatizing intelligence work is a good idea, but I'm sure Republicans think it's just great. Much of the privatization probably took place during the GWB years, perhaps handing out big contracts to cronies and campaign donors.

At what point does the profit motive begin to interfere with the private contractor's loyalty to country and dedication to the mission?