A former FBI intelligence analyst has been charged with stealing confidential files over a 13-year period.
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Kendra Kingsbury, of Dodge City, Kansas, faces two charges, it was announced Friday.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said that between June 2004 and December 2017, the 48-year-old removed and then stored national security, secret and confidential documents in her home.
The material allegedly removed from FBI systems included documents related to cybersecurity, terrorism, intelligence bulletins, open FBI investigations, human operations, and files describing theFBI's "technical capabilities against counterintelligence and counterterrorism objectives."
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In addition, some of the material concerned members of Al Qaeda, suspected “associates” of Osama bin Laden, and emerging terrorist groups in Africa.
As an FBI intelligence analyst for over 12 years in the Kansas field office, Kingsbury was trained in handling sensitive material and covert practices. During her tenure, the intelligence agent participated in teams including those focused on counterterrorism, drug trafficking and gang crime.
“The defendant was not authorized to remove and retain this sensitive government data, including national defense information and classified documents,” the indictment states. “The defendant also did not have a ‘need to know’ most, if not all, of the information regarding this data.”
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Kingsbury was suspended in 2017 and has now been arrested and made her initial appearance in District Court for the District of Kansas.
The former analyst faces two counts of “willfully withholding national defense information.” “The breadth and depth of national security information that plaintiff has retained for more than a decade is simply astonishing,” said Alan Kohler, Jr. Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.
«The defendant, who is well-trained in handling classified information, is putting her country's sensitive secrets at risk. The FBI will make every effort to investigate individuals who put their own interests above the national security of the United States, even when the individuals are FBI employees.»
