FBI Analyst Charged With Stealing Counterterrorism and Cyber Threat Info

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) indicted an employee of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for illegally removing
numerous national security documents and willfully retaining them
at her personal residence during a 13-year period from June 2004 to
December 2017.

The federal indictment charged Kendra Kingsbury, 48, with two
counts of having unauthorized possession of documents relating to
the national defense, according to an unsealed indictment^[1]
that was made public on Friday. Kingsbury worked as an intelligence
analyst in the FBI’s Kansas City Division for more than 12 years,
until her suspension in 2017.

“The breadth and depth of classified national security
information retained by the defendant for more than a decade is
simply astonishing,” said^[2]
Alan E. Kohler, Jr. Assistant Director of the FBI’s
Counterintelligence Division, in a statement.

Stating that Kingsbury knew she was not authorized to remove and
retain access to these sensitive government materials, the Justice
Department charged the defendant with failing to deliver the secret
documents to relevant employees who were entitled to receive
them.

Kingsbury is alleged to have kept a total of 20 documents that
cover a wide swathe of classified information spanning across
intelligence notes and bulletins, email messages, internal
correspondence, and a presentation that delve into different
sources and methods the agency uses to defend against
counterterrorism and cyber threats as well as details about
intelligence gathered on emerging terrorist groups.

Some of the documents unlawfully accessed by Kingsbury also
involve specifics about open investigations, human sources, and
intelligence gaps pertaining to hostile foreign intelligence
services and terrorist outfits, and the technical capabilities the
FBI possesses to neutralize counterterrorism targets.

“As an intelligence analyst for the FBI, the defendant was
entrusted with access to sensitive government materials,” said
Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers for DoJ’s National
Security Division. “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.”