The FBI recently searched the home of a government contractor suspected of leaking classified information about the U.S. government’s terrorist watch list, according to sources cited in Yahoo News on Monday.
Northern Virginia prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the leak of classified information revealed in an article in The Intercept, the website founded by Glenn Greenwald, who broke many of the stories about secret surveillance programs based on information provided by Edward Snowden.
{mosads}The person’s name is not revealed, but the suspect is described as an employee of a government contracting firm. No charges have been brought so far, according to the report.
The Justice Department does not comment on pending cases but a spokesman told Yahoo News that, in general, it would follow the evidence and “take appropriate action.”
The Aug. 5 article in The Intercept revealed classified information about the government’s Terrorist Screening Database. The report found that of the 680,000 names on the list, 280,000 were described as having no recognized terrorist affiliation. It described other statistics about the makeup of the list as well.
The Intercept reported that the document was “obtained from a source in the intelligence community.”
In the new documentary “Citizen Four,” Greenwald is seen at the end of the film discussing a second leaker with Snowden while in Moscow. CNN also reported in August that the government had concluded that a second person was leaking classified information.
The Obama administration has previously been criticized for launching an unprecedented number of cases to stop government disclosures. The most recent came last year with the espionage charges against Snowden, who has remained in Russia for more than a year.
The Justice Department in the past has said it will not waver in prosecuting officials who disregard their obligation to protect classified information.
However, at least one source told Yahoo News the government might not have “an appetite” for “these cases” any longer.