FBI Analyst Accused of Stealing and Hoarding Classified Data, Including on Cyber Threats

A federal grand jury indicted an employee of the FBI’s Kansas City Division for taking classified documents at home, for years on end, related to counterterrorism procedures, counterintelligence and cyber threats.

One of the dangers security companies always warn about goes by the name of “insider threat.” Whether it’s intentional or by mistake, the result is the same. The company, or in this situation, the law enforcement agency, is compromised by someone allegedly doing something they shouldn’t, like taking documents home.

A federal grand jury charged Kendra Kingsbury, 48, of Dodge City, Kansas, with a two-count indictment. In her role as an intelligence analyst, she came across sensitive documents. According to the indictment, she’s accused of stealing and retaining classified documents for years.

“The breadth and depth of classified national security information retained by the defendant for more than a decade is simply astonishing,” said Alan E. Kohler, Jr., Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.

“The defendant, who’s well trained in handling classified information, put her country’s sensitive secrets at risk,” he said. “The FBI will go to great lengths to investigate individuals who put their own interests above U.S. national security, including when the individual is an FBI employee.”

The court document alleges that Kingsbury started to remove essential documents from June 2004 until December 2017. Until her suspension in 2017, she had top-level clearance with access to information about illegal drug trafficking, violent crime, violent gangs and counterintelligence. The data outlined details about cyber threats, including information on the FBI’s nationwide objectives and priorities.

What makes this situation even more interesting is that the FBI analyst had no connection to the information she supposedly stole, as she’s accused of amassing information on a wide breadth of criminal enterprises and the procedures used by law enforcement in this case.