Former FBI Analyst Charged – 13 Years of Classified Secrets Stolen
On May 21, Kendra Kingsbury of Dodge City, KS was placed
under arrest following her grand jury indictment three days prior on two counts of willful retention of
national defense information. She stands accused of hoarding classified
information from June 2004 through December 2017 while an FBI Intelligence
Analyst within the FBI’s Kansas City Division.
KENDRA KINGSBURY HAD ACCESS
Court records tell us how over the course of her 13 years within
the Kansas City Division of the FBI she enjoyed the trust of the nation having
been granted Top Secret/SCI security clearance which permitted her access to
national defense and classified information. During her tenure as an analyst,
she worked in various squads to include, counterintelligence, violent gangs,
drug trafficking, etc.
The indictment continues how her access was not limited to
simply the FBI records, but those of another government agency (believed, based
on the document’s description of the agency to be the CIA. This access to
classified materials by its very nature meant she had access to the classified
records system and the SCIF area of the Kansas City Division.
Two important call outs from the indictment include her
violating the “need to know” principle and “removal of classified documents.”
The indictment provides a listing of 10 documents in support of each count of
the indictment, indicative of these being an example sufficient to secure the
arrest of Kingsbury and not the totality of information which she removed and
hoarded at her residence. The indictment does not provide a gross number of
documents purloined and stored by Kingsbury.
By way of comparison, imprisoned NSA contractor Harold
Martin over the course of his 20-plus year access to classified information
squirreled away more than 50 terabytes of information. He also violated the
need-to-know principal by harvesting information to which he had access by not
the requisite need.
In Kingsbury’s case, the indictment tells us her trove
included information related to the intelligence community’s sources and
methods related to counterterrorism, counterintelligence and cyber. This
information included information on al Qaeda on the African continent which was
provided by the OGA (CIA).
Furthermore, the type of documents included source
identities, intelligence gaps vis-a-vis targets (hostile foreign intelligence
services) and the technical capabilities of the FBI used to address
counterintelligence and counterterrorism targets of interest.
WHAT THE FBI IS SAYING
The Special Agent in Charge of the Kansas City Division,
Timothy Langan, commented on loyalty and fidelity to nation, “Every FBI
employee swears to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.
With that oath comes the obligation to protect classified information from
unauthorized disclosure to safeguard our national security. Kingsbury’s actions
are a betrayal of trust not only to the FBI but also the American people. They
can be reassured that the FBI takes any and all allegations of wrongdoing by
employees with the utmost gravity and remain committed to investigating these
allegations to the fullest extent.”
While Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers pointed
directly to the elephant in the room, the insider threat which exists in every
entity, “As an intelligence analyst for the FBI, the defendant was entrusted
with access to sensitive government materials. Kingsbury is alleged to have
violated our nation’s trust by stealing and retaining classified documents in
her home for years. Insider threats are a significant danger to our national
security, and we will continue to work relentlessly to identify, pursue and
prosecute individuals who pose such a threat.”
FOR THE FSO – WHY DATA SECURITY RULES EXIST.
Kingsbury’s ability to access information which she did not
have a need to know is a failure of document access controls within the FBI.
Granted, the capabilities to control document level access in 2021 is
substantially more advanced than the period 2004-2017. Additionally, the
frequency and depth of the required periodic inspections to and from the
classified sections of the building did not seem to be a deterrent given she
was able to steal documents for 13 years.
What the FBI, the DoJ, nor the court records tell us is why
did Kingsbury hoard 13 years of classified information?
Comments
Post a Comment