Updated: 23 Years for Giving Away Classified Info

6/30/2021

I came across this case today:

"Defense Department Linguist Sentenced to 23 Years in Prison for Transmitting Highly Sensitive Classified National Defense Information to Aid a Foreign Government

Mariam Taha Thompson, 62, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, was sentenced today to 23 years in prison for delivering classified national defense information to aid a foreign government. As part of her March 26 guilty plea, Thompson admitted that she believed that the classified national defense information that she was passing to a Lebanese national would be provided to Lebanese Hezbollah, a designated foreign terrorist organization."

Doesn't this seem like a very harsh sentence? I am curious what your intuitions are.

POLL: Was this too harsh, just right, or too lenient?

4 Comments

Scott

6/24/2021 12:53:25 pm

From the info in the post it does not seem too harsh to me. Treason / spying type offenses are considered some of the most serious of all crimes and this seems to fall into a similar category.

Brian L. Cox link

6/24/2021 01:25:39 pm

"Following [Qasem] Suleimani’s death, the unindicted co-conspirator began asking Thompson to provide 'them' with information about the human assets who had helped the United States to target Suleimani. Thompson admitted that she understood 'them' to be Lebanese Hezbollah, including an unnamed high-ranking military commander.

After receiving this request for information in early January 2020, Thompson began accessing dozens of files concerning human intelligence sources, including true names, personal identification data, background information and photographs of the human assets, as well as operational cables detailing information the assets provided to the U.S. government."

"The defendant’s decision to aid a foreign terrorist organization was a betrayal that endangered the lives of the very American men and women on the battlefield who had served beside her for more than a decade."

23 years sounds about right to me, especially since it was assessed pursuant to a plea deal.

Tami a/k/a Princess Leia

6/24/2021 11:35:48 pm

I think this is on the lenient side. Manning got 35 years.

Philip D. Cave link

6/30/2021 08:45:57 am

With, IMHO, an inappropriate commutation.

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CAAFlog

Updated: 23 Years for Giving Away Classified Info

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