The NSA might have all sorts of high-tech methods to prevent and sniff out internal leaks. But sometimes all it takes is a pair of pantyhose to steal highly sensitive, classified information.

Consider how the agency was able to pin down an alleged leaker of a classified intelligence report, published by The Intercept, that said Russian military intelligence launched a cyberattack on a US voting software company and sent spear-phishing e-mails to local US election officials ahead of the November election.

NSA investigators quickly narrowed down suspects to Reality Leigh Winner, a 25-year-old linguistics contractor for Pluribus International Corporation, a company that provides analytical, translation, and cyberwarfare development services to the intelligence community. When The Intercept asked the NSA in June to confirm the document's authenticity, the online news agency unwittingly exposed the leak's alleged source. The copy of the report showed fold marks that indicated it had been printed—and it included encoded watermarking that revealed exactly when it had been printed and on what printer.

But how did Winner allegedly smuggle the document out of the NSA's Fort Gordon, Georgia, facility? In her pantyhose, of course.

At least that's what she told the FBI, according to court records (PDF) lodged Wednesday in the woman's criminal case. The records are a transcript of an interview with Winner when the authorities searched her Augusta, Georgia, residence in June. The transcript was submitted in a bid to convince a federal judge that she should not be released from jail pending trial.

The lengthy transcript describes how the FBI persuaded her to confess, her motives, and the fact that she wasn't happy that Fox News was always on in the office.

After some lengthy dialogue, FBI agent Justin Garrick finally asks Winner how she smuggled the classified report through in-house security.

"So how did you get it out of the office?"

"Folded it in half in my pantyhose," she answered.

Before she came clean, it took a bit of coaxing, according to the transcript.

"So you're positive you've never printed anything out that was outside of your work role."

"Trying to think," she replied.

Reality check

"Okay. Reality, what if I said that I have the information to suggest that you did print out stuff that was outside of that scope?"

"Okay, I would have to try to remember."

"Reality, uh, you know we obviously know a lot more than... than what we're telling you at this point. And I think you know a lot more than what you're telling us at this point. I don't want you to go down the wrong road. I think you need to... to stop and think about what you're saying and what you're doing. Uhm, you know, I... I think it's a... an opportunity to maybe tell the truth. Because, uh, telling a... telling a lie to an FBI agent is not going to be the right thing."

"Mm-hmm," she replied, three times.

Moments later, the agent says: "Okay. All right. What if I told you that I know that you searched for and printed out a document on the ninth of May?"

At first, she said she didn't leak it but properly disposed of it after leaving it on her desk for three days.

"All right, Reality. Are you sure that's what you did with it?"

"Yes."

"Reality, uh, can you guess how many people might have printed out that document?"

"No."

"It's not many. That document has made it outside. Okay? Obviously, because we're here."

"Obviously, yeah. Crap."

I screwed up royally

She was later asked her motivations and whether she "might've been angry over everything that's going on, politics-wise."

Among other things, she said that the classified intelligence "article" she allegedly leaked needed to be in the public domain.

"I saw the article and was like, I don’t understand why this isn’t a thing," she said, according to the transcript. "It made me very mad—I guess I just didn’t care about myself at that point."

"Yeah, I screwed up royally."

She also said she was disgruntled because Fox News was on all the time in the office, according to the transcript. "And I guess it's just been hard at work... because... and I've... I've filed formal complaints about them having Fox News on, you know? Uh, just at least, for God's sake, put Al Jazeera on, or a slide show with people's pets. I've tried everything to get that changed."

According to the transcript, she said she snail-mailed the classified report from a public mailbox near a local bank and an Earth Fare grocery store.

US Magistrate Judge Brian Epps is set to hold a hearing Friday in Savannah, Georgia, to consider Winner's motion to be released from jail pending trial.