WikiLeaks Releases Documents From CIA Director John Brennan's Email Account

WikiLeaks tweeted Wednesday evening that it plans to release more emails from CIA Director John Brennan's personal email account Thursday, including ones relating to U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The organization began posting material Wednesday from what appeared to be Brennan’s personal email account, which was hacked last week by a teenager, the Associated Press reported.

WikiLeaks did not publish any personal emails Wednesday, but rather six documents culled from Brennan’s personal emails, NBC News reported. The documents released included a draft of a position paper on the future of intelligence, a security clearance application Brennan had filled out while applying for a job as a White House counterterrorism adviser, a summary of a contract dispute between Brennan’s private firm and the CIA in 2007, a memo on Iran and a paper from a Republican lawmaker on interrogation techniques.

All of the documents date back to before 2009, and none of them appeared to contain sensitive information except for the security clearance form, which had Brennan’s wife’s Social Security number and names of people he had worked with over a long prior career at the CIA.

“The Brennan family is the victim,” the agency said in a statement, the Associated Press reported. “This attack is something that could happen to anyone and should be condemned, not promoted. There is no indication that any the documents released thus far are classified. In fact, they appear to be documents that a private citizen with national security interests and expertise would be expected to possess.”

WikiLeaks presumably obtained the documents from a teenager who told the New York Post this week that he had hacked into Brennan’s email account by posing as a Verizon employee, which allowed him to trick another employee into revealing Brennan’s personal information. The teenager, who has remained anonymous, told Wired he is not working alone and that he and two other people worked on the breach. The hacker broke into Brennan’s email account Oct. 12 and was in it for three days before it was disabled Friday. The hacker is reportedly a high school student protesting American foreign policy.