前政府承包商阿什巴赫被捕：被控把机密军事行动影像发上社交媒体，并盗走陆军特种作战司令部的夜视仪
美国司法部10月30日宣布，现年37岁、住在北卡罗来纳州斯普林莱克（Spring Lake）的前政府承包商詹姆斯·托马斯·阿什巴赫（James Thomas Ashbacher）本周二被联邦调查局（FBI）逮捕。他被指控把国防信息发到一个热门社交媒体网站上泄密、在住所内非法留存其他国防信息，并从美国陆军特种作战司令部盗走夜视仪。
根据本周二启封的起诉书，阿什巴赫被控非法传递与留存国防信息，以及盗窃政府财产。起诉书称，约从2021年起，阿什巴赫受雇于一家私人公司，在位于北卡罗来纳州布拉格堡（Fort Bragg）的陆军特种作战司令部设施内提供安保与应急管理服务；为履行职责，他持有绝密（Top Secret）安全许可，并可接触敏感隔离信息（SCI）。
起诉书称，阿什巴赫拍摄并未经授权带走含有机密军事行动画面的视频与照片，并把这些材料传到一个社交媒体网站；这些机密材料后来被其他用户转发到第二个社交媒体网站。阿什巴赫曾在私信中要求一名社交媒体用户删除部分材料，并称自己「正在努力做损害控制」。执法人员搜查其住所时，还发现一份含有更多国防信息的机密嘉奖材料，以及一套属于陆军特种作战司令部某部队、此前已报失踪的夜视仪系统。
此案由 FBI 夏洛特外地办事处调查，美国陆军刑事调查部门提供大力协助；检方由司法部国家安全司反情报与出口管制处审判律师莱斯利·埃斯布鲁克（Leslie Esbrook）与北卡罗来纳州东区联邦助理检察官洛根·莱尔斯（Logan Liles）负责起诉。司法部说明，起诉书仅为指控，阿什巴赫在法庭以排除合理怀疑的标准证明有罪之前，推定无罪。
Former U.S. Government Contractor Ashbacher Arrested for Allegedly Leaking National Defense Information and Stealing Night Vision Goggles
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on October 30 that James Thomas Ashbacher, 37, of Spring Lake, North Carolina, a former U.S. government contractor, was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday for allegedly leaking national defense information by posting the information on a popular social media site, unlawfully retaining other national defense information at his residence, and stealing night vision goggles from the U.S. Army's Special Operations Command.
Ashbacher was charged by an indictment unsealed on Tuesday with unlawfully transmitting and retaining national defense information and with theft of government property. According to the indictment, beginning in or about 2021, he worked as an employee of a private company that provided security and emergency management services at the U.S. Army Special Operations Command facility in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and held a Top Secret security clearance with Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) access.
The indictment alleges that Ashbacher photographed and removed without authorization videos and photographs containing images of classified military operations and transmitted the materials to a social media site; the materials were later re-posted by other users to a second social media site. He asked a social media user in a private message to remove some materials, stating that he was "trying to do some damage control." A search of his residence also revealed a classified award write-up containing additional national defense information, along with a night vision goggle system specific to a military unit within Army Special Operations Command that had been reported missing.
The FBI Charlotte Field Office is investigating the case with substantial assistance from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Division. Trial Attorney Leslie Esbrook of the National Security Division's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Logan Liles for the Eastern District of North Carolina are prosecuting the case. An indictment is merely an allegation, and Ashbacher is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：美国联邦调查局总部胡佛大楼（素材库 federal-core 固定图）。GSM 素材库。 / The FBI headquarters J. Edgar Hoover Building. GSM asset library (federal-core pack).
