He probably didn’t have official access to the information, but as an IT tech he would know how to get it if he wanted to. i.e. log in to “JWICS” as one of the members of your unit that does have access...he is the one in charge of log-ins/passwords, etc. for the unit. It is a National Guard unit...less “stringent”/formal shall we say. You would be surprised what a “low-level” IT person can get away with if they have bad intentions...they get the call when the CO forgets their password. ;-)
Thanks for some sound, down-to-earth ideas.
He would at least be the same security clearance level to be ‘in charge of passwords’. But that is a serious OPSEC violation to have someone else’s password.
A more likely scenario imo is an email over-distribution spillage. Where briefing emails are sent beyond the intended, cleared audience who will be attending briefings.
Once it’s in email it can be anywhere.
What’s more interesting is how those documents passed an email guard (computer guard) to get to a network with a printer. Then how the printed documents got outside the facility.
Gonna be an interesting cyber investigation. I have no doubt they’ll have the full failure detailed within a month or so.