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Ex-CIA Agent Gets 40 Years In Prison Over Largest Data Breach In Agency History

A former CIA agent convicted of the largest data breach in agency history along with child pornography is set to spend 40 years in prison.

Joshua Adam Schulte, 35, of New York, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for espionage, computer hacking, contempt of court, lying to the FBI, and child pornography. Prosecutors had asked for Schulte to be sentenced to life in prison. Schulte’s attorney had asked for nine years in prison, noting that his client had already been locked up for seven years under conditions he likened to torture.

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman imposed the 40-year sentence after Schulte’s convictions at trials in 2020, 2022, and September 2023.

Schulte’s theft was the largest data breach in the history of the CIA. He gave stolen information to WikiLeaks in one of the largest unauthorized disclosures of classified information in the history of the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Mr. Schulte severely harmed U.S. national security and directly risked the lives of CIA personnel, persisting in his efforts even after his arrest,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said in a statement.

Schulte worked as a software developer from 2012 to 2016 in the Center for Cyber Intelligence, which is responsible for offensive cyber operations such as cyber espionage relating to terrorist groups and foreign governments.