What did Joshua Schulte do? Multiple charges explored as former CIA officer sentenced to 40 years in prison

Former CIA hacker Joshua Schulte, accused of causing a major data breach for the agency, was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment on Thursday, February 1, 2024. Apart from date breach charges, Schulte was accused of possessing child pornography images.

In 2022, he was convicted of leaking important information, and then in 2023, he was convicted of possessing inappropriate images concerning children. It has been revealed that Joshua Schulte worked as a software developer at the Center for Cyber Intelligence from 2012 to 2016.

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Joshua Schulte allegedly shared 8,761 confidential documents to Wikileaks

On Thursday, Joshua Schulte was sentenced to 40 years of jail time after being convicted of espionage, computer hacking, contempt of court, making false statements to the FBI, and possession of child abuse images.

In 2017, 35-year-old Joshua allegedly shared about 8,761 documents to Wikileaks. While he denied the accusations, he was found guilty later. Along with four decades behind bars, he is sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release.

According to BBC News, US Attorney Damian Williams said,

"Joshua Schulte betrayed his country by committing some of the most brazen, heinous crimes of espionage in American history."

Prosecutors spoke about the information leakage and said,

"[The leak] immediately and profoundly damaged the CIA's ability to collect foreign intelligence against America's adversaries; placed CIA personnel, programs, and assets directly at risk; and cost the CIA hundreds of millions of dollars."

Authorities stated that when law enforcement officials were investigating the data breach case, they discovered an encrypted container that was secured by three layers of password security. The Guardian reported that the discovery was made in Joshua Schulte's apartment in New York.

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Schulte has lied to several federal agencies to get away with his malicious acts

The ex-CIA hacker reportedly attempted to leak information after he was put behind bars, using a smuggled cellphone. The FBI added that he tried posting information about CIA cyber tools under the name Jason Bourne. CNN reported a statement issued by FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Smith:

"Today, Joshua Schulte was rightly punished not only for his betrayal of our country, but for his substantial possession of horrific child p*rnographic material."

He added:

"The severity of his actions is evident, and the sentence imposed reflects the magnitude of the disturbing and harmful threat posed by his criminal conduct."

CNN has reported that Schulte started having problems with the agency in 2015. He began going against a colleague and then the management. Eventually, he filed for a restraining order against the colleague in a state court.

As a result of the altercation, both Joshua and his co-worker had to be transferred. He also allegedly lied to the FBI and the CIA just to cover his wrongdoings.