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A former FBI contract linguist will be serving time for leaking classified information to a blogger.
Shamai Kedem Leibowitz, aka Samuel Shamai Leibowitz, of Silver Spring, Md., was sentenced to 20 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for unlawfully providing classified documents to the host of blogs who then published information from those documents online.
“The willful disclosure of classified information to those not entitled to receive it is a serious crime,“ said David Kris, assistant attorney general for national security. “[Yesterday’s] sentence should serve as a warning to anyone in government who would consider compromising our nation's secrets.“
According to the plea agreement, Leibowitz was employed by the FBI as a contractor in an office in Calverton, Md., where he held a Top Secret security clearance and had access to classified documents. In April 2009, Leibowitz provided a blogger with classified information relating to the communication intelligence activities of the United States.
“As a trusted member of the FBI ranks, Leibowitz abused the trust of the FBI and the American public by using his access to classified information for his own purposes,“ Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely said.
