- Former CIA agent Joshua Schulte is accused of the largest leak in the agency's history.
- Writer Patrick Radden Keefe spoke to some of Schulte's high school friends for The New Yorker.
- They said that Schulte drew swastikas and showed his genitals to other students at school.
The former CIA agent accused of the largest leak in the agency's history drew swastikas and showed his genitals to other students at high school, according to a profile published by The New Yorker.
Joshua Schulte became so known for his temper at the CIA that he was nicknamed the Nuclear Option, Patrick Radden Keefe wrote.
One of his school friends, Kavi Patel, said the former CIA agent used to "draw swastikas all over the place," but claimed he was not anti-Semitic.
Patel said Schulte liked getting a rise out of people and recalled him saying: "I don't really care one way or the other, but it's fun to see the shock on people's faces."
On at least one occasion, according to the article, he drew swastikas on the yearbook of a Jewish student.
When Schulte was in college, he argued on his blog that pornography is a form of free expression that "is not degrading to women" and "does not incite violence," Keefe wrote for The New Yorker.
One woman interviewed for the article said Schulte had repeatedly exposed his genitals to other students in the junior high school band. "He would try and touch people, or get people to touch him—that was a daily occurrence," she said.
In March 2017, WikiLeaks published a series of articles disclosing confidential information from the CIA taken from 2 billion pages of documents stolen from the agency.
In his article, Keele quotes a WikiLeaks statement suggesting that the person who leaked the information wanted "to initiate a public debate" about the use of cyberweapons. Investigators suspected Schulte, obtained a warrant and searched his flat.
According to the article, the FBI seized his computers for forensic analysis and discovered a "virtual machine" – an entire operating system nested within the computer's normal operating system.
The investigators discovered a large amount of child pornography, and his internet research history showed his interest in WikiLeaks.
Schulte will be representing himself in the trial scheduled to begin in New York on Monday.
Keefe said: "Schulte no longer works for the government, but his head is still full of government secrets, and he will be the one questioning witnesses on the stand."
