Ex-FBI agent to plead guilty in leak case

A former FBI agent has agreed to plead guilty to leaking classified information to news media, the US Justice Department announced Monday.

Donald Sachtleben, a former bomb technician, is accused of leaking secret information to the Associated Press about a foiled bomb plot in Yemen in 2012.

Federal investigators identified Sachtleben after they obtained AP reporters™ phone logs, a measure that angered journalists and members of Congress when it was disclosed in May.

According to the Justice Department, Sachtleben, 55, agreed to serve 43 months in prison for the leak.

His case is the eighth leak-related prosecution under the Obama administration, according to the New York Times.

œThis prosecution demonstrates our deep resolve to hold accountable anyone who would violate their solemn duty to protect our nation™s secrets, and to prevent future, potentially devastating leaks by those who would wantonly ignore their obligations to safeguard classified information,” Ronald C. Machen Jr., the US attorney for the District of Columbia said, as reported by the Times.

The man had also been under investigation for child pornography accusations. He has agreed to plead guilty in that case too, according to the New York Times.

He has already agreed to serve 97 months in prison for the pornography case.

Sachtleben™s total sentence is now nearly 12 years while the 43-month sentence for leak-related offenses is the longest ever imposed by a federal civilian court in such a case, the newspaper said.

Chelsea Manning, formerly known as Pfc. Bradley Manning, was sentenced last month to 35 years in prison for leaking archives of documents to WikiLeaks. But his court was a military one.

ARA/ARA

Copyright: Press TV