FBI前特工承认向美联社记者泄密

 　　An ex-FBI agent has agreed to plead guilty to leaking information to a reporter about an al-Qaeda bomb plot and to child pornography charges.

　　Donald Sachtleben, 55, is to be sentenced to 12 years in prison.

　　The May 2012 disclosures jeopardised an international intelligence operation and put lives at risk, officials said.

　　Investigators¹ identified him after seizing phone records of the Associated Press, which published an article on the Yemen-based al-Qaeda plot.

　　"This unauthorized and unjustifiable disclosure severely² jeopardized³ national security and put lives at risk," Deputy Attorney General James Cole said in a statement.

　　"To keep the country safe, the department must enforce the law against such critical and dangerous leaks, while respecting the important role of the press."

　　In May 2012, the Associated Press published an article describing a successful effort to disrupt a plot by Yemen-based al-Qaeda militants⁴ to bomb a US-bound airliner⁵.

　　In court documents, Sachtleben of Indiana admitted giving a reporter information on a plot matching that description.

　　US Attorney General Eric Holder⁶ called the national security disclosure among the most serious he had ever seen.

　　"It put the American people at risk, and that is not hyperbole," he told reporters in May.

　　The Associated Press declined to comment on its relationship with Sachtleben, but said he had pleaded guilty "to revealing secret information for an Associated Press story".

　　Sachtleben worked for the FBI as a bomb technician from 1983-2008 and held top secret security clearance⁷.

　　Stored secrets

　　In 2008, he was rehired as a contractor⁸, maintaining his security clearance and continuing to have access to classified defence information, according to court documents.

　　On 2 May 2012, he disclosed secret information to a reporter, according to a court document he signed.

　　Nine days later he was arrested on separate charges of trading images of child pornography online, having been identified during an investigation⁹ into another man accused of possession of child pornography.

　　An FBI search of Sachtleben's computer, seized in the child pornography investigation, revealed improperly¹⁰ stored secret documents, according to court records.

　　On Monday, Sachtleben pleaded guilty to unauthorised disclosure of national defence information, unauthorised possession and retention¹¹ of national defence information, and two charges of distributing and possessing child pornography.

　　The plea agreement calls for him to be sentenced to a total of 140 months in prison - 43 for the national security offenses¹² and 97 for the child pornography charges.

1 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

3 jeopardized   

危及，损害( jeopardize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The soldier jeopardized his life to save his comrade. 这个士兵冒生命的危险救他的同志。
• The occasional failed project or neglected opportunity does not jeopardized overall progress. 偶然失败的项目或失误的机会并没有影响总的进展。

4 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

5 airliner   

n.客机，班机

参考例句：

• The pilot landed the airliner safely.驾驶员使客机安全着陆。
• The passengers were shepherded across the tarmac to the airliner.旅客们被引导走过跑道去上飞机。

6 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。

7 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

8 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

9 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

10 improperly   

不正确地，不适当地

参考例句：

• Of course it was acting improperly. 这样做就是不对嘛！
• He is trying to improperly influence a witness. 他在试图误导证人。

11 retention   

n.保留，保持，保持力，记忆力

参考例句：

• They advocate the retention of our nuclear power plants.他们主张保留我们的核电厂。
• His retention of energy at this hour is really surprising.人们惊叹他在这个时候还能保持如此旺盛的精力。

12 offenses   

n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势

参考例句：

• It's wrong of you to take the child to task for such trifling offenses. 因这类小毛病责备那孩子是你的不对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Thus, Congress cannot remove an executive official except for impeachable offenses. 因此，除非有可弹劾的行为，否则国会不能罢免行政官员。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法