Nghia Pho was sentenced to five years and six months in prison for taking home what prosecutors called a "massive trove" of top secret information between 2010 and 2015 as he worked on sensitive NSA programs. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Legal NSA engineer gets 5+ years for security breach

BALTIMORE — A federal judge on Tuesday imposed a stiff sentence on a rank-and-file engineer who caused a major security breach for the National Security Agency, but the judge also sounded an alarm in the process about a double-standard for high-ranking officials who violate laws governing the nation's secrets.

Nghia Pho, 68, was sentenced to five years and six months in prison for taking home what prosecutors called a "massive trove" of top secret information between 2010 and 2015 as he worked on sensitive NSA programs aimed at hacking into computers used by terrorists, foreign governments and U.S. adversaries.


Some of those hacking tools are believed to have made their way to the Shadow Brokers, a murky entity that attempted to auction the tools and then exposed many of them on the internet.

The prison sentence imposed by U.S. District Court Judge George Russell was a far cry from the sentence of home detention and probation Pho's lawyer asked for, but came in two-and-a-half years short of the eight years that prosecutors sought.

However, one of the most striking aspects of Tuesday's sentencing was Russell's lament that top government officials seem to have escaped with little more than a slap on the wrist for engaging in similar behavior.

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Russell seemed particularly perturbed that former CIA Director David Petraeus managed to get probation after admitting he kept highly classified information in his home without permission, shared it with his girlfriend and lied to investigators.

"Did he do one day in prison?" the clearly frustrated judge asked. "Not one day. ... What happened there? I don't know. The powerful win over the powerless? ... The people at the top can, like, do whatever they want to do and walk away."

Pho's attorney Robert Bonsib also repeatedly raised the case of John Deutch, another former CIA director who was set to plead guilty to a misdemeanor for keeping top-secret information on his home computer, but won a pardon from President Bill Clinton in his final days in office. The defense lawyer complained that "the marquee players" got kid gloves treatment but Pho was facing a demand he serve eight years behind bars.

Prosecutor Thomas Windom acknowledged Petraeus got what some would see as a "good" outcome, but he noted that sentence length in the other cases was just one factor Russell should take into account.

Russell also said he couldn't really do much about any of the past cases involving top officials.

"They're not in front of me," the judge said.

Still, Russell called Pho's actions "extraordinarily serious." He also rejected claims that it was an isolated mistake, noting that Pho took the top-secret material to his home for years.

POLITICO reported last week that former NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers submitted an unusual letter to the court saying that Pho's conduct led the agency to conduct a massive review of what programs could be compromised. The NSA also abandoned a series of initiatives it was pursuing that were considered too vulnerable to continue in the wake of Pho's actions, Rogers said.

Little was said at Tuesday's hearing about what information may have escaped Pho's control or where it wound up, although Windom used very strong language about the impact of Pho's actions, calling it "devastating."

There were hints about what happened, though, as the judge stressed that Pho put the records on an "unsecured" computer at his home. The breach also appears to have involved the internet security firm Kaspersky Lab, which has acknowledged a weakness in its systems allowed outsiders to gain access to some tools its software identified as hacking threats.

Kaspersky claimed it fixed the issue, but security fears subsequently led the U.S. and others to take steps to ban or limit the use of Kaspersky's software.

Toward the end of Tuesday's hearing, Pho addressed the court directly, explaining that his decision to take the classified material home was driven by a desire to improve his performance review at the NSA and get a raise that could improve his retirement income. He explained that as a Vietnamese immigrant, he'd struggled with English and in social interactions with his colleague.

Pho's statement did not exude a great deal of contrition, but he did say his actions have tormented him.

"My conscience punishes me about that," he said.

Pho emphasized that he has a deep love for the country and values freedom here that he did not have when he fled the communist regime in Vietnam several decades ago.

"I admit it but I do not betray the U.S.A.," the white-haired, glasses-wearing engineer said in broken English. "I do not betray this country. ... I do not send anything to anybody or on the internet. I do not make profit on this information. ... I cannot damage this country."

While Pho's lawyer urged the judge to avoid disparities with other defendants who committed similar offenses, Pho's sentence is still longer by three months than the sentence imposed last month on NSA contractor Reality Winner, who admitted disclosing to the media a top-secret report on Russian efforts to hack databases maintained by U.S. election officials.

Pho has been free since his Maryland home was raided three years ago, even after criminal charges were filed. The judge allowed the ex-NSA engineer to walk out of court again Tuesday and said he could spend the holidays with his family before reporting to prison early next year.

This article tagged under: NSA