Former defense contractor Harold Thomas Martin III, who has been in custody since his arrest on August 27, is charged by a federal grand jury for deliberate retention of classified national defense data.  A US Department of Justice (DoJ) news release said Martin faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted.

The defendant, says the DoJ, worked as a private contractor for various government agencies, including National Security Agency, from 1996 until August 2016 and during that period he misused the security clearance given him to access classified data from government computer networks. He allegedly stole and retained highly classified material pertaining to national defense, including Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information, despite being aware of the sensitive nature of the data.

The DoJ alleged in a pretrial motion last year that Martin had stolen an astounding quantity of information, including 50 terabytes of digital data along with six boxes of printed documents. A search by law enforcement officials found most of the highly classified documents lying around in his house and vehicle.

The defendant is scheduled to appear in Baltimore court on February 14.

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