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Report: Suspect identified in WikiLeaks CIA leaks

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A man crosses the CIA seal in the lobby of its Headquarters. Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

The New York Times is reporting that, according to court records it has seen, a 29-year-old former-CIA software engineer, Joshua Schulte, is the key suspect in last year's "Vault 7" leaks and has been charged related to child pornography, but has not been charged with the leaks.

Why it matters: The leaks were largely inconsequential — mostly instruction manuals for old hacking tools, propped up in their importance by imaginations running wild. But the fact the files were leaked was a bloody nose to the CIA.

The arrest: Schulte's New York apartment was searched by the FBI a week after the first leaks became public, and was arrested more than a year ago.

  • His lawyer argued last week that a time limit be set on any espionage charges related to Vault 7.
  • Schulte has been charged with possessing child pornography related to user uploads to a storage server he ran as a business while a University of Texas student in 2009.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)