Report: Suspect in Leak of CIA Hacking Tools Is Identified
But prosecutors don’t have enough evidence to prosecute him.

Larry Downing/Reuters
The U.S. government has identified a suspect in the leak of the CIA’s “computer hacking arsenal,” but does not have enough evidence to prosecute him, according to The Washington Post. Joshua Adam Schulte, who worked in a “CIA group that designs computer code to spy on foreign adversaries,” allegedly gave the top secret materials to WikiLeaks, which then published them under the name “Vault 7,” exposing “secret cyber weapons and spying techniques that also might be used against the United States,” the newspaper reported. Schulte is currently being held in prison for 6 months on child pornography charges. He pleaded not guilty to the child pornography case and denies being the leaker. Schulte claims that because he once reported “incompetent management and bureaucracy” at the CIA, he’s been viewed as a disgruntled employee. He also said he was planning a trip to Cancun with his brother—which he claims made the government even more suspicious. “Due to these unfortunate coincidences the FBI ultimately made the snap judgment that I was guilty of the leaks and targeted me,” he said.
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