Federal prosecutors urged a federal judge to keep computer specialist Harold Martin behind bars while he awaits trial in the case. | Patrick Semansky/AP Photo Feds: NSA contractor who hoarded classified info had names of covert U.S. officers

The names of "numerous" covert U.S. intelligence operatives overseas are contained in the massive quantity of sensitive information a former National Security Agency contractor is accused of hoarding at his Maryland home, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Prosecutors made the startling assertion in a legal filing urging a federal judge in Baltimore to keep computer specialist Harold Martin behind bars while he awaits trial in the case.


"Information stolen by the Defendant includes numerous names of intelligence officers of the United States," prosecutors wrote. "These officers operate under cover outside the United States, and putting the secrecy of their identities at risk by removing information about those identities from appropriate, secure storage not only endangers the lives and safety of those officers and the individuals with whom they work, but also risks exposure of American intelligence operations."

During a court hearing last week, Martin's defense team conceded that he had a huge quantity of government records in his home but argued that he gathered the materials in a misguided attempt to improve the government's cybersecurity tools. A defense lawyer also contended that Martin's behavior escalated into a compulsion and, eventually, a form of mental illness.

However, the government's disclosure is a clear effort to cast Martin's behavior in a more sinister light, as the names of covert U.S. intelligence officers would not seem necessary or even useful for the research he was doing in pursuit of a Ph.D. at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

A defense attorney for Martin did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new prosecution filing.

At a hearing last Friday, Magistrate Judge David Copperthite ordered Martin detained as a flight risk. Defense lawyers appealed that decision to a district court judge, who is scheduled to hear arguments this Friday on the same issue. Under federal law, the judge taking up the matter next is supposed to consider the matter de novo, without giving any weight to Copperthite's earlier decision.

Prosecutors said in their new filing that any decision to release Martin would be essentially beyond the pale. "It is abundantly clear that [Copperthite] made the only decision a judicial officer could under the facts and circumstances of this matter," the government lawyers wrote.

Martin was arrested Aug. 27 at his Glen Burnie, Maryland, home after the FBI carried out a search warrant there, finding paper records and electronic devices containing data from the NSA and perhaps other agencies scattered through his home office, shed and car. Some of the records were classified up to the Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information level, the government said. Prosecutors say the FBI seized more than 50 terabytes of data, a "substantial quantity" of which is highly classified.

Prosecutors said they also seized classified information from "the Defendant himself" at the time of the search.

The government has been aggressively investigating whether Martin's hoarding of classified information led to its disclosure to others, either intentionally or inadvertently. A posting of NSA hacking tools online shortly before Martin's arrest has been of particular concern to investigators, but prosecutors have made no public claim linking Martin to that disclosure or any other release.

Prosecutors said last week that during an 18-year career Martin worked for seven different defense contractors. In the new filing, that number rose to eight. Booz Allen Hamilton has confirmed that he was working for them most recently and was fired following his arrest.

Booz Allen announced Thursday that it has hired former FBI chief Robert Mueller to lead a review of Martin's case, which came to light about three years after another contractor working for the firm at an NSA facility, Edward Snowden, gave journalists a trove of classified information on U.S. surveillance programs.

"Because we are determined to learn from this incident and look more broadly at our processes and practices, we have taken an additional step of asking former FBI Director Robert Mueller to conduct an external review of the firm’s security, personnel, and management processes and practices," Booz Allen Vice President Craig Veith said in a statement. "We are committed to doing our part to detect potential insider threats, which are complex and constantly evolving ... We are an organization that prides itself on constant learning. If there are areas where Booz Allen can improve, we will address them.”