WASHINGTON—A former National Security Agency contractor amassed at least 500 million pages of government records, including top-secret information about military operations, by stealing documents bit by bit over two decades, the Justice Department alleged in a court filing submitted Thursday.
Prosecutors in August arrested and charged Harold Hal Martin III, of Glen Burnie, Md., with theft of government property and unauthorized removal or retention of classified documents. The case was kept under seal until earlier this month, when some details became public.
In a 12-page memo, U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein and two other prosecutors laid out a much more far-reaching case against Harold T. Martin III than was previously outlined. They say he took at least 50 terabytes of data and “six full banker’s boxes worth of documents,” with many lying open in his home office or kept on his car’s back seat and in the trunk. Other material was stored in a shed on his property.
One terabyte is the equivalent of 500 hours’ worth of movies.
Martin, who will appear at a detention hearing in U.S. District Court in Baltimore on Friday, also took personal information about government employees as well as dozens of computers, thumb drives and other digital storage devices, the government memo said.
A federal court has scheduled a hearing for Friday to consider whether Mr. Martin should be released while awaiting trial. The Justice Department released its 12-page document ahead of that hearing, detailing new allegations about the scope of Mr. Martin’s alleged theft and suggesting he had become heavily armed, accumulating 10 weapons, and had taken sophisticated steps to cover his tracks.
Some former associates had described Mr. Martin as a harmless hoarder who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. The new government filing paints a different picture, raising questions about his motives and suggesting he was capable of sharing U.S. secrets with the nation’s adversaries and potentially putting American lives at risk.
The document doesn’t, however, answer one of the big questions in the case: whether Mr. Martin shared any of the stolen classified information with another person or another country. The document offers no evidence that he did but suggested Mr. Martin had the capacity to do so.
Prosecutors will argue Friday that Martin, 51, of Glen Burnie, Md., presents a high risk of flight, a risk to the nation and to the physical safety of others,” and that he should not be released from jail.
“The case against the defendant thus far is overwhelming, and the investigation is ongoing,” said Rosenstein, Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Myers and trial attorney David Aaron. “The defendant knows, and, if no longer detained, may have access to a substantial amount of highly classified information, which he has flagrantly mishandled and could easily disseminate to others.”
Continued detention without bail is necessary, prosecutors said, because of “the grave and severe danger that pretrial release of the defendant would pose to the national security of the United States.”
Martin’s attorneys argued in a memo filed Thursday that their client is not a flight risk and should be released under court-approved conditions pending trial. “The government concocts fantastical scenarios in which Mr. Martin — who, by the government’s own admission, does not possess a valid passport — would attempt to flee the country,” wrote public defenders James Wyda and Deborah L. Boardman.
inside the NSA and the Pentagon. The Justice Department said that a search of his home and his automobile uncovered “thousands of pages of documents and dozens of computers and other storage devices and media containing, conservatively, fifty terabytes of information.”
Fifty terabytes is equivalent to 50,000 gigabytes. One gigabyte can contain 10,000 pages of documents, the department estimated.
By extrapolation, 50 terabytes can hold 500 million pages.
In seeking Friday’s hearing, Mr. Martin’s legal team wrote that he “is neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community, and to the extent either of these factors is a concern, they can be sufficiently addressed with specific release conditions.”
The Justice Department countered Thursday that Mr. Martin “presents a high risk of flight, a risk to the nation, and to the physical safety of others.
Mr. Martin worked on highly sensitive programs, people familiar with the investigation have said, including those involving an arsenal of cybertools the government has amassed to use against other countries as well as cyberweapons that were in development.
So far, it is unknown what Mr. Martin intended and what, if any, plans he had for the pilfered information.
When the Federal Bureau of Investigation searched Mr. Martin’s home and car in August, it found much of the stolen information in plain sight. Top-secret information was stored in his car, which wasn't parked in a garage. Investigators also found an email chain printed out in that car that was marked “top secret” and contained highly sensitive information.
Prosecutors in August arrested and charged Harold Hal Martin III, of Glen Burnie, Md., with theft of government property and unauthorized removal or retention of classified documents. The case was kept under seal until earlier this month, when some details became public.
In a 12-page memo, U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein and two other prosecutors laid out a much more far-reaching case against Harold T. Martin III than was previously outlined. They say he took at least 50 terabytes of data and “six full banker’s boxes worth of documents,” with many lying open in his home office or kept on his car’s back seat and in the trunk. Other material was stored in a shed on his property.
One terabyte is the equivalent of 500 hours’ worth of movies.
Martin, who will appear at a detention hearing in U.S. District Court in Baltimore on Friday, also took personal information about government employees as well as dozens of computers, thumb drives and other digital storage devices, the government memo said.
A federal court has scheduled a hearing for Friday to consider whether Mr. Martin should be released while awaiting trial. The Justice Department released its 12-page document ahead of that hearing, detailing new allegations about the scope of Mr. Martin’s alleged theft and suggesting he had become heavily armed, accumulating 10 weapons, and had taken sophisticated steps to cover his tracks.
Some former associates had described Mr. Martin as a harmless hoarder who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. The new government filing paints a different picture, raising questions about his motives and suggesting he was capable of sharing U.S. secrets with the nation’s adversaries and potentially putting American lives at risk.
The document doesn’t, however, answer one of the big questions in the case: whether Mr. Martin shared any of the stolen classified information with another person or another country. The document offers no evidence that he did but suggested Mr. Martin had the capacity to do so.
Prosecutors will argue Friday that Martin, 51, of Glen Burnie, Md., presents a high risk of flight, a risk to the nation and to the physical safety of others,” and that he should not be released from jail.
“The case against the defendant thus far is overwhelming, and the investigation is ongoing,” said Rosenstein, Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Myers and trial attorney David Aaron. “The defendant knows, and, if no longer detained, may have access to a substantial amount of highly classified information, which he has flagrantly mishandled and could easily disseminate to others.”
Continued detention without bail is necessary, prosecutors said, because of “the grave and severe danger that pretrial release of the defendant would pose to the national security of the United States.”
Martin’s attorneys argued in a memo filed Thursday that their client is not a flight risk and should be released under court-approved conditions pending trial. “The government concocts fantastical scenarios in which Mr. Martin — who, by the government’s own admission, does not possess a valid passport — would attempt to flee the country,” wrote public defenders James Wyda and Deborah L. Boardman.
inside the NSA and the Pentagon. The Justice Department said that a search of his home and his automobile uncovered “thousands of pages of documents and dozens of computers and other storage devices and media containing, conservatively, fifty terabytes of information.”
Fifty terabytes is equivalent to 50,000 gigabytes. One gigabyte can contain 10,000 pages of documents, the department estimated.
By extrapolation, 50 terabytes can hold 500 million pages.
In seeking Friday’s hearing, Mr. Martin’s legal team wrote that he “is neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community, and to the extent either of these factors is a concern, they can be sufficiently addressed with specific release conditions.”
The Justice Department countered Thursday that Mr. Martin “presents a high risk of flight, a risk to the nation, and to the physical safety of others.
Mr. Martin worked on highly sensitive programs, people familiar with the investigation have said, including those involving an arsenal of cybertools the government has amassed to use against other countries as well as cyberweapons that were in development.
So far, it is unknown what Mr. Martin intended and what, if any, plans he had for the pilfered information.
When the Federal Bureau of Investigation searched Mr. Martin’s home and car in August, it found much of the stolen information in plain sight. Top-secret information was stored in his car, which wasn't parked in a garage. Investigators also found an email chain printed out in that car that was marked “top secret” and contained highly sensitive information.
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