NSA engineer gets 5 years and over for breach of security

BALTIMORE – A federal judge on Tuesday imposed a hefty penalty on a base engineer who caused a serious security breach at the National Security Agency, but the judge also sounded the alarm bells about A double standard the officials who violate the laws governing the secrets of the nation.

Nghia Pho, 68, was sentenced to five years and six months in prison for bringing home between 2010 and 2015 a "huge treasure" of secret information, working on sensitive NSA programs aimed at hacking the computers of the terrorists. foreign governments and American opponents.

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Some of these hacking tools would have appeared at Shadow Brokers, an obscure entity that was trying to auction the tools and expose many on the Internet.

The sentence imposed by Judge George Russell of the United States District Court was far from the probation requested by Pho's lawyer, but it had arrived in two and a half years compared to the eight years of proceedings requested by the prosecutors.

However, one of the most striking aspects of Tuesday's conviction was Russell's complaint that senior government officials seem to have escaped with just a slap for having a similar behavior.

Russell seemed particularly upset that former CIA director David Petraeus managed to get probation after admitting to keeping highly classified information at home without permission, sharing it with his girlfriend and lying to investigators .

"Did he ever go to jail?" the judge clearly frustrated asked. "Not a day … What happened there? I do not know. The powerful victory over the helpless? … The people at the top can, like, do this that they want and go. "

Pho's lawyer, Robert Bonsib, has also repeatedly referred to the case of John Deutch, another former CIA director who allegedly pled guilty to keeping secret information on his computer, but obtained the apologize to President Bill Clinton. Office. The defense attorney complained that "the main players" had been treated with children's gloves, but that Pho was facing an eight-year-old demand behind bars.

Attorney Thomas Windom acknowledged that Petraeus had obtained what some considered a "good" outcome, but noted that the length of the sentence in other cases was just one factor that Russell should consider.

Russell also said that he could not really do much about past affairs involving senior officials.

"They are not in front of me," said the judge.

Still, Russell called Pho's actions "extraordinarily serious". He also rejected claims that it was an isolated mistake, noting that Pho had brought top secret material to his home for years.

POLITICO reported last week that the former director of the NSA, adm. Mike Rogers, had submitted an unusual letter to the court, claiming that Pho's conduct had led the agency to carry out a massive review of programs likely to be compromised. The NSA also abandoned a series of initiatives it was pursuing that were considered too vulnerable to continue in the wake of Pho's actions, Rogers said.

There was little talk on Tuesday of any information that would have escaped Pho's control or its location, although Windom used very strong language about the impact of Pho's actions, the describing it as "devastating".

There was some clue as to what had happened, however, the judge pointed out that Pho had put the records on an "unsecure" computer at his home. The violation also appears to have involved Internet security firm Kaspersky Lab, which has acknowledged a weakness in its systems, which has allowed third parties to access certain tools identified by its software as hacking threats.

Kaspersky said the problem was solved, but security fears then led the US and others to take action to ban or limit the use of Kaspersky's software.

Towards the end of Tuesday's hearing, Pho went straight to the court, explaining that his decision to take home the classified material was motivated by his desire to improve his NSA rating. and to obtain an increase that can improve his retirement income. He explained that as a Vietnamese immigrant, he had had difficulties with English and with his colleagues.

Pho's statement does not release much contrition, but he did say that his actions tormented him.

"My conscience is punishing me about it," he said.

Pho pointed out that he had a deep love for the country and values ​​the freedom that he did not have when he fled the communist regime in Vietnam several decades ago.

"I recognize it but I do not betray the United States," said the engineer with glasses, white hair, broken English. "I do not betray this country, I do not send anything to anyone or the Internet, I do not profit from this information, I can not damage this country."

While Pho's lawyer has urged the judge to avoid disparities with other defendants who have committed similar crimes, Pho's sentence is still three months longer than last month's sentence against Reality Winner, an entrepreneur. from the NSA. efforts to hack databases maintained by US election officials.

Pho has been free since his home in Maryland was attacked three years ago, even after criminal charges were laid. The judge allowed the ex-engineer from the NSA to leave the court on Tuesday and said he could spend the holidays with his family before going to jail early next year. .