Fate of ex-CIA employee charged with massive data leak in jury's hands

Attorneys have a painted different portrayals of Joshua Schulte, the 31-year-old computer coder who is accused of handing over reams of classified data to WikiLeaks in 2016.

Prosecutors argued that Schulte was motivated by revenge for being denied access to computer systems and then took several measures to not only get this data, but to cover his tracks by erasing his record of having ever accessed the info.

"Josh Schulte is no patriot. Far from it," said Assistant US Attorney Matthew Laroche in closing arguments on Monday. "He's vengeful and he's full of rage and he's committed crimes that have been devastating to our national security."

Schutle's attorney, Sabrina Shroff, countered that prosecutors still have not made their case that it was definitely Schulte who stole the data.

She argued that passwords were shared among CIA members who were each trained to grab data without leaving a trace and that another office worker could have easily taken the data instead of Schulte. She also argued that CIA and FBI investigators were more motivated to solve the case rather than find the real culprit.

"The government still is not able to answer for you the very basic questions. In fact, quite weirdly, I tell you that there are more questions now than when this trial first began," Shroff said to jurors.

Schulte faces several charges, including illegally gathering national defense information, illegal transmission of both lawfully and unlawfully possessed national defense information and even possession of child pornography. The jury in the case began deliberations on Tuesday.

Schulte, who worked as a computer engineer within the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence, created cyber tools that could grab data undetected from computers.

His issues at the CIA began in the summer of 2015 when he began to feud with management and a co-worker, ultimately filing a restraining order against the coworker in state court, court records show. Schulte and the co-worker were both transferred as a result of the feud.

Investigators allege that Schulte became enraged when CIA officials wanted to hire a contractor to build a cyber tool similar to one he was building, prosecutors said.

Then in April 2016, Schulte's administrative privileges on two projects were revoked. When Schulte's asked about the revoked privileges, an administrator told him that since he now worked in a different branch, he no longer had the clearance, prosecutors said. Schulte argued that he still needed access to keep working on his projects.

Schulte then told the administrator that a branch supervisor said he should have his access reinstated. And while the administrator went to check with the branch manager, Schulte reinstated his own access, according to the records.

Once he was caught, administrators denied Schulte's access to all computer systems. But during the deletion process, they missed a key, and Schulte still had access to a main system known as DELVAN. Schulte, who signed a memo stating that he wouldn't attempt to restore or give himself access to any other systems, signed in as an administrator to DEVLAN.

On April 20, 2016, investigators say Schulte stole cyber tools and source code and transferred them to WikiLeaks, according to court records. He then went on to cover try and cover his tracks, erasing any and all traces of him accessing the computer system, prosecutors said.

Schulte quit the CIA in November 2016. But in March 2017, WikiLeaks published the first installment of their Vault 7 leaks, which originated from two programs found on the DEVLAN system, court records show.

WikiLeaks put out a press release to go with the information, saying that the data was provided anonymously by a source who wanted to raise policy questions, specifically about whether the CIA had overstepped its hacking capabilities exceeded its authority.

Schulte, who also allegedly lied to CIA and FBI investigators to cover his tracks, was arrested in August 2017 on child pornography charges. He was indicted on the charges related to the data breach months later.

While inside the Metropolitan Correctional Center where he was detained awaiting trial, Schulte was able to get access to a phone where he kept leaking information, this time to a Washington Post reporter, prosecutors said.

He also created several social media accounts, including one under the name Jason Borne, a hat tip to the fictional Hollywood character that was a CIA operative who found himself on the run, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors kept painting the picture of Schulte as an angry and vindictive former worker who wanted to get even with his managers using the data he allegedly stole.

"And if there is one thing that is abundantly clear, it's that he felt like he was wronged. He was ready to retaliate, and he was ready to do anything -- anything -- to make it right in his mind," Laroche said in his closing statement. "That's exactly what he did at the CIA, and that's exactly what he tried to do again from prison, repeating that same pattern of anger, escalation, retaliation and lies."