Something is Very Wrong with Reality Winner and the NSA Leak

The Huffington Post ^ | June 6, 2017 | Peter Van Buren, Contributor

[2ndDivisionVet]

An NSA document purporting to show Russian military hacker attempts to access a Florida company which makes voter registration software is sent anonymously to The Intercept. A low-level NSA contractor, Reality Winner, above, is arrested almost immediately. What’s wrong with this picture? A lot.

Who Benefits?

Start with the question of who benefits — cui bono— same as detectives do when assessing a crime.

— Trump looks bad as another trickle of information comes out connecting something Russian to something 2016 election. Intelligence community (IC) looks like they are onto something, a day or so before ousted FBI Director James Comey testifies before Congress on related matters.

— The Intercept looks like it contributed to burning a source. Which potential leaker is going to them in the future? If potential leakers are made to think twice, another win for the IC.

— The FBI made an arrest right away, nearly simultaneous to the publication, with the formal charges coming barely an hour after The Intercept published. The bust is sure thing according to the very publicly released information. No Ed Snowden hiding out in Russia this time. IC looks good here.

— More evidence is now in the public domain that the Russians are after our election process. Seems as if the IC has been right all along.

What Happened is... Curious and Curiouser...

Now let’s look at what we know so far about how this happened.

A 25-year-old improbably-named Reality Winner leaves behind a trail long and wide on social media of anti-Trump stuff, including proclaiming herself a member of The Resistance. Never mind, she takes her Top Secret clearance with her out of the Air Force (she had been stationed with the military’s 94th Intelligence Squadron out of Fort Meade, Maryland, co-located with the NSA’s headquarters)[continued]

[dp0622]

You don’t want educated comments when you’re printing easily challenged or debunked nonsense.

[Nifster]

No. This is the left protecting its own. The radicalized woman thought she could become a sowden. She made rookie errors. She’s a rookie

They found her through printer codes. When asked she openly admired it.

She is the epitome of the snowflakes who think they can do no wrong

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

I have been saying the same thing...I don't know and have been asking is this to provide case law to prosecute Hillary, something​ is not right...

[Innovative]

And of course it has nothing to do with the fact that she committed a major security violation, which can hurt our ability to obtain important information.(/sarc)

[alloysteel]

Not so very wrong. The “Trump Derangement Syndrome” sort of takes over and all native caution is thrown to the wind, in the headlong race to be “the one” who pulled down the Trump World.

If you take a shot at the King, better the hell don’t miss.

And this was a HUGE miss. Wild shot in the dark.

The document itself was a fake and major disinformation.

There. Is. No. Collusion. Not. Now. Not. Ever.

[Mariner]

“COuld it be his “Indian” (Sessions) ain’t up to the task? Just cant bring himself to hurt his “friends”?

I’ve been thinking for over a month that Sessions is just another Lynch or Comey.

There has been no progress on the legal issues that matter, especially leakers.

Sure, he caught this little minnow, but otherwise has been absent.

Where are the indictments of Clinton, Holder, Comey?, Lerner and so many others that conspired to deprive the people of their Constitutional rights?
Rice, Obama, Clapper and so many more.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Jeff Sessions needs to resign immediately and we need a new AG with a name like Rudy Giuliani that will actually enforce the law.

I think most experienced DC players know that attempting to enforce a quaint concept like "law" against the Deep State just gets you dead. Trump terrifies everyone because he is like a bull in a china shop - he's an old-school American who has no idea where the new, invisible boundaries are. But he's going to have a very hard time finding like-minded law enforcement veterans to do the hard work of actual swamp-draining - unless his fills his team with outsiders like David Clarke and promises them plenty of firepower to back them up their actions.

Nobody wants to believe our government has been subverted and seized by unaccountable authoritarians who are perfectly willing to shoot our representatives to hold onto their power. But it is increasingly looking like that is the case.

[mad_as_he$$]

I thought this looked wonky from the getgo.

[Rapscallion]

only the little fish are brought to the dock

We're tastier as morsels for the powerful.

[rdcbn]

Jeff Sessions is not a joke and he is doing a good job.

The Trump Administration has a very good strategy on how they are going to deal with the corrupt, renegade and seditious old guard.

The plan is unfolding and it’s working

Remember, Trump is only 4 months on the job and he is winning.

[JBW1949]

“...There. Is. No. Collusion. Not. Now. Not. Ever...”

Exactly right...If all those liberal leftist “experts” can’t find anything in the year they’ve “investigated, there is NOTHING!!!!

[Cementjungle]

More evidence is now in the public domain that the Russians are after our election process. Seems as if the IC has been right all along.

Wrong. The IC "intel" is completely bogus. Essentially, it claims that because the voting machine company received phishing spam emails... emails which virtually everyone gets on a daily basis... is in itself proof that the "Russians were trying to hack voting machines".

They didn't offer any proof at all to indicate the phishing emails were from Russia or the Russian government, and didn't explain how they determined the phishing emails were for political gain (as opposed to financial gain).

Essentially, the IC used the flimsy excuse of "people received spam" as their excuse to spy on them... in other words the Obama admin spied on the Trump campaign, and this is the best "justification" they could come up with to explain why they spied.

[Garth Tater]

The way the high level folks *GET* there is making sure there is always some low level person to take the fall

Don't do the crime until you have the patsy in place and ready to take the fall.

[mass55th]

Rudy doesn’t want the job.

[bgill]

She knows how classified stuff works. She has been told repeatedly, as all persons with a clearance are, that her computer, email, printing, and phone are monitored.

As if Hellary, Huma and the housekeeper's were. As if Snowden and that other guy were. As if anyone was on top of the Awan brothers. Who knows how much classified intel gets out every day.

[patriotfury]

I say this in total agreement with you — most Americans have no idea!

[a fool in paradise]

Leftists like their news fakebut accurate.

Release ginned up documents if they point to a conclusion you want.

[DPMD]

Don’t cry for Reality. Where she’s going, her love life will perk up.

[Hoosier-Daddy]

When is the FBI and DOJ going to arrest the manatee in a pantsuit? She done 1000x worse than Reality Bites.

[sickoflibs]

From link :” At this very early stage I’m going to say there are too many coincidences and too many mistakes to simple shrug it all off. Too many of the benefits in this have accrued on the side of the IC than is typical when a real whistleblower shares classified documents with a journalist.
If it frightens you that I invoke the question of the Deep State using journalists to smear the President, just forget I said anything. Otherwise, if anyone hears Winner’s lawyer use the word “patsy,” let me know, OK?”

Long read

Winner is another Lee Harvey Oswald?? Brainwashed?
She happily admits doing it.
How much has 'GoFundMe raised for her defense?