AUGUSTA, Ga. | Reality Winner, a former government contractor who pleaded guilty to mailing a classified U.S. report to a news organization was sentenced to more than five years in prison Thursday.
Winner, 26, pleaded guilty in June to a single count of transmitting national security information. The former Air Force translator worked as a contractor at a National Security Agency’s office when she printed a classified report and then exited the facility with it. Winner told the FBI she mailed the document to an online news outlet.
Winner, on Thursday, said she took responsibility for “an undeniable mistake that I made.”
“I would like to apologize profusely for my actions,” she told the judge … My actions were a cruel betrayal of my nation’s trust in me.”
Winner’s punishment is the longest sentence ever given for a federal crime involving a leak of secret information to the news media, according to U.S. Attorney Bobby Christine. Winner will receive credit for having spent more than a year in jail already, he said.
Winner’s leak harmed national security by revealing “sources and methods” that impaired America’s efforts to gather similar information, Christine said.
“She was the quintessential example of an insider threat,” said Christine, the top federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Georgia.
Winner’s defense attorneys said they were grateful the judge agreed to the sentence recommended by prosecutors. The charge she pleaded guilty to carried a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison.
“It’s a serious matter and she can now get on with her life,” Winner attorney John Bell said.
