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An ex-FBI agent has agreed to plead guilty to leaking information to a reporter about an al-Qaeda bomb plot and to child pornography charges. Donald Sachtleben, 55, is to be sentenced to 12 years in prison. The May 2012 disclosures jeopardised an international intelligence operation and put lives at risk, officials said. Investigators identified him after seizing phone records of the Associated Press, which published an article on the Yemen-based al-Qaeda plot. "This unauthorized and unjustifiable disclosure severely jeopardized national security and put lives at risk," Deputy Attorney General James Cole said in a statement. "To keep the country safe, the department must enforce the law against such critical and dangerous leaks, while respecting the important role of the press." In May 2012, the Associated Press published an article describing a successful effort to disrupt a plot by Yemen-based al-Qaeda militants to bomb a US-bound airliner. In court documents, Sachtleben of Indiana admitted giving a reporter information on a plot matching that description. US Attorney General Eric Holder called the national security disclosure among the most serious he had ever seen. "It put the American people at risk, and that is not hyperbole," he told reporters in May. The Associated Press declined to comment on its relationship with Sachtleben, but said he had pleaded guilty "to revealing secret information for an Associated Press story". Sachtleben worked for the FBI as a bomb technician from 1983-2008 and held top secret security clearance. Stored secrets In 2008, he was rehired as a contractor, maintaining his security clearance and continuing to have access to classified defence information, according to court documents. On 2 May 2012, he disclosed secret information to a reporter, according to a court document he signed. Nine days later he was arrested on separate charges of trading images of child pornography online, having been identified during an investigation into another man accused of possession of child pornography. An FBI search of Sachtleben's computer, seized in the child pornography investigation, revealed improperly stored secret documents, according to court records. On Monday, Sachtleben pleaded guilty to unauthorised disclosure of national defence information, unauthorised possession and retention of national defence information, and two charges of distributing and possessing child pornography. The plea agreement calls for him to be sentenced to a total of 140 months in prison - 43 for the national security offenses and 97 for the child pornography charges. |
綜合外國媒體報(bào)道，美國司法部9月23日宣布，一名曾在美國聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局（FBI）工作25年的排爆專家已向法庭認(rèn)罪，承認(rèn)向美聯(lián)社泄露機(jī)密信息，如果法官接受其認(rèn)罪協(xié)議的話，他將入獄12年。 2012年5月，美聯(lián)社刊發(fā)了一篇報(bào)道，講述美國情報(bào)和安全人員查獲關(guān)聯(lián)“基地”組織也門分支的新型炸彈、成功挫敗一起恐怖分子針對(duì)飛往美國民航航班的襲擊陰謀。然而奇怪的是，美國當(dāng)局并未向媒體通報(bào)上述案件。 此后，有關(guān)部門進(jìn)行了一場(chǎng)全面聯(lián)邦調(diào)查、以查明事件原委。調(diào)查人員獲取了20條美聯(lián)社記者和編輯使用的電話線路的通訊記錄，發(fā)現(xiàn)聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局前雇員唐納德·扎赫特勒本與美聯(lián)社的一名記者過往甚密、十分可疑。 扎赫特勒本今年55歲，居住在印第安納州卡梅爾鎮(zhèn)。1983年至2008年，扎赫特勒本在聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局工作，作為一名排爆專家，他擁有接觸高級(jí)機(jī)密的權(quán)限。2008年，扎赫特勒本被雇為政府承包商，其工作權(quán)限被保留，他仍然可以獲取機(jī)密國防信息。 根據(jù)法庭文件，調(diào)查人員從扎赫特勒本的“電子設(shè)備”中調(diào)取了電子郵件和短信，確認(rèn)他早在2009年秋天就成為美聯(lián)社一名“A記者”的線人。2012年4月30日至5月2日，扎赫特勒本與“A記者”多次聯(lián)系，他就是在此期間向“A記者”透露了有關(guān)挫敗恐怖分子襲擊陰謀的機(jī)密信息，稱聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局“當(dāng)時(shí)在進(jìn)行一個(gè)持續(xù)中的、秘密的、敏感的炸彈分析”。 2012年5月11日，扎赫特勒本被控在網(wǎng)上交易兒童色情圖片而被捕，他的電腦也被查封。聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局搜查其電腦時(shí)，在其中發(fā)現(xiàn)了許多非法存儲(chǔ)的機(jī)密文件。 “為保證國家安全，司法部必須確保如此嚴(yán)重、危險(xiǎn)的泄露信息行為受到法律制裁，與此同時(shí)，也會(huì)依法保護(hù)新聞自由?！泵绹痉ú扛笨倷z察長詹姆斯·科爾稱，扎赫特勒本泄露機(jī)密信息“嚴(yán)重?fù)p害了美國國家安全、將民眾的生命安全置于危險(xiǎn)之中”。 華盛頓首席聯(lián)邦檢察官羅納德·梅琴指出，在美軍擊斃本·拉登一周年之際披露美國當(dāng)局發(fā)現(xiàn)恐怖分子使用新型炸彈意圖襲擊赴美民航客機(jī)，“這對(duì)敏感的情報(bào)行動(dòng)構(gòu)成了威脅”?！搬槍?duì)扎赫特勒本的起訴，反映出我們下定決心要把那些違背工作職責(zé)、無法保護(hù)國家機(jī)密不被泄露的人繩之以法的決心，同時(shí)也對(duì)其他人敲響了警鐘，”梅琴說。 23日在法庭上，針對(duì)檢方提出的泄露國防機(jī)密信息、非法存儲(chǔ)國防機(jī)密信息、以及兩項(xiàng)散布和持有兒童色情圖片的指控，扎赫特勒本均承認(rèn)有罪。根據(jù)認(rèn)罪協(xié)議，數(shù)罪并罰，他將面臨共計(jì)140個(gè)月的監(jiān)禁，其中泄密罪和傳播兒童色情照片罪分別需入獄43個(gè)月和97個(gè)月。 目前，美聯(lián)社拒絕就扎赫特勒本案以及其與扎特特勒本的關(guān)系作出回應(yīng)。 相關(guān)閱讀 美流浪漢上交中國學(xué)生遺失巨款 獲捐款數(shù)萬美元 敘政府?dāng)M呼吁停火 普京稱無法100%確保敘交出化武 好奇號(hào)在火星未發(fā)現(xiàn)甲烷 暫無生命跡象 （譯者 肉肉融 編輯 嚴(yán)玉潔） |
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