There’s a detail about the Reality Winner case that I’ve been thinking about. She appears to have known to look for the report she ultimately leaked to The Intercept. From the SW affidavit:
On or about May 9. 2017. four days after the publication of the classified report, WINNER conducted searches on the U.S. Government Agency’s classified system for certain search terms, which led WINNER to identify the intelligence reporting. On or about May 9, 2017, WINNER also printed the intelligence reporting. A review of WINNER’S computer history revealed she did not print any other intelligence report in May 2017.
And the complaint:
On June 3, 2017, your affiant spoke to WINNER at her home in Augusta, Georgia. During that conversation, WINNER admitted intentionally identifying and printing the classified intelligence reporting at issue despite not having a “need to know,” and with knowledge that the intelligence reporting was classified.
So days after a report for which she didn’t have the need to know was completed, she knew the search terms to use to find it.
How did she learn about it?
I assume she heard about it from chatter among colleagues (I wonder whether anyone else who didn’t have a need to know searched for the report as well, perhaps only to read it to leak its substance?). But I find it striking that a somewhat innocuous report generated enough chatter for her to go looking for it.