Axios

A government contractor allegedly printed and leaked a classified NSA document on Russian meddling in the U.S. election to The Intercept. Reality Winner, the contractor, was arrested Saturday by the FBI.

An affidavit filed in federal court in Georgia on Monday alleged that Winner "printed and improperly removed classified intelligence reporting, which contained classified national defense information from an intelligence community agency, and unlawfully retained it."

Now she faces up to 10 years in prison.

The FBI has arrested a contractor for allegedly printing and leaking a classified NSA document to The Intercept. It concerned a Russian military intelligence operation last year targeting local U.S. election officials.

The contractor, Reality Leigh Winner, is reportedly an Air Force Veteran who worked with Pluribus International Corporation and was assigned to a government facility in Georgia. She confirmed she printed the intel, carried it by hand, and leaked it to the press.

Why it matters: The Trump administration has been promising a crackdown on leaks for months, this could be a signal they're taking that effort seriously. An unintended consequence is that the criminal complaint seems to at least partially confirm the legitimacy of the report, and will lead to more coverage of Russian interference in the election — something that infuriates President Trump.

Montenegro became the 29th member of NATO Monday during a ceremony in Washington, with the effect of bolstering ties against Russia.

Montenegro is on track to allocate 1.72% of its GDP for defense spending in 2017, just shy of the 2% level all NATO members should be allocating. Only five members currently exceed this metric.

The Russia tension: Montenegro says Moscow was behind a failed coup attempt last year against its Prime Minister, Milo Djukanovic, per the AP (Russia denies responsibility). Pro-Russian opposition forces in Montenegro said joining NATO meant the country had been "annexed."

A Russian intelligence operation sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials days before the election, which ran through a hack of a U.S. voting software supplier. The Russian cyber espionage operation was functional for months before the 2016 U.S. election, according to a classified NSA report obtained by The Intercept (which also says the May 5 document was independently authenticated).

Why it matters: As The Intercept wrote, it's "the most detailed U.S. government account of Russian interference in the election that has yet come to light." Plus, the report shows Russian hacking may have weaseled its way further into U.S. voting systems than was previously known.

• The NSA leaves no room for doubt for who carried out the attack by pointing the finger at Russian military intelligence — specifically, the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU). That stands in stark contrast to Putin's denial that Russia has ever engaged in hacking the U.S. election at the state level.
• Although the NSA doesn't name the breached company, it does reference a product made by a Florida-based vendor, VR Systems, which is used in eight states.