Federal Criminal Probe Being Opened Into WikiLeaks' Publication of CIA Documents

Style Magazine Newswire | 3/8/2017, 11:22 a.m.
A federal criminal investigation is being opened into WikiLeaks' publication of documents detailing alleged CIA hacking operations, several US officials …
A federal criminal investigation is being opened into WikiLeaks' publication of documents detailing alleged CIA hacking operations, several US officials told CNN Wednesday, March 8, 2017.

By Barbara Starr

CNN Pentagon Correspondent

(CNN) -- A federal criminal investigation is being opened into WikiLeaks' publication of documents detailing alleged CIA hacking operations, several US officials told CNN Wednesday.

The officials said the FBI and CIA are coordinating reviews of the matter.

The investigation is looking into how the documents came into WikiLeaks' possession and whether they might have been leaked by an employee or contractor. The CIA is also trying to determine if there are other unpublished documents WikiLeaks may have.

The documents published so far are largely genuine, officials said, though they are not yet certain if all of them are and whether some of the documents may have been altered.

One of the biggest concerns for the federal government is if WikiLeaks publishes critical computer code on how operations are conducted, other hackers could take that code and cause havoc overseas.

The officials emphasized any intelligence collection using the types of operations described in the documents is legal intelligence collection against overseas targets. The officials also cautioned some of the material describes programs still under development by the intelligence community.

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