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 WASHINGTON — When the news broke that Reality Winner, a 25-year-old NSA contractor with an apparently heavy social media presence, had been charged with leaking a classified document to reporters, many people wondered: How does someone so young have a such a top-level security clearance? 
 
 It’s actually very common. 
 
 "The vast majority of people who do the National Security Agency’s intercept work, who translate and analyze — most of them are fresh out of high school," said Matthew Aid, an intelligence historian who has written about the NSA. "There are thousands and thousands of 18 to 21-year-olds doing critically important and secret work around the world." 
 
 Related: Feds Arrest NSA Contractor in Leak of Top Secret Russia Document 
 
 The NSA is a military intelligence agency, and many of the people who work on the front lines of intelligence gathering in the military are young enlisted personnel. If they are eavesdropping on anyone from a terrorist in Afghanistan to a Russian colonel, they need a very high security clearance. The equipment, the methods, the words they hear — are all highly classified. 
 
 So it was that Winner, who served in the Air Force from 2010 until December 2016, found her way to a job as a contractor at an NSA facility in Georgia. A Cryptologic Language Analyst for the Air Force, she was fluent in the languages of Afghanistan. She was arrested at her home Saturday for allegedly leaking a document about Russian hacking of U.S. electoral systems that was published in a story by The Intercept on Monday afternoon. 
 
 The issue that Winner’s arrest highlights is not her age, current and former intelligence officials say — it is what they perceive as a cultural shift that has led a small but growing subset of spy agency employees to break the ultimate organizational taboo, and share secrets with the public and the news media. 
 
 There have always been American spies who have betrayed their country for money. Now, from Chelsea Manning to Edward Snowden to Reality Winner, a new class of rogue employee has emerged: People who decide there are secrets the public needs to know, and take it upon themselves to share them with reporters. 
 
 Reality Leigh Winner, 25, a federal contractor charged by the U.S. Department of Justice for sending classified material to a news organization, poses in a picture posted to her Instagram account. Reality Winner / Instagram via Reuters 
 
 "It’s a new kind of insider threat that the agency can’t defend against," Aid said. 
 
 And it’s getting worse, he added, in part because "Donald Trump and the change in the political scene in America has created an environment for a lot of people who feel that they have to DO something. You become an instant activist." 
 
 Winner was vocal in her opposition to Trump on social media, but her motives are unclear. According to federal charging documents, she admitted to mailing a Top Secret document detailing Russian hacking intelligence to the news media. She faces one count of "gathering, transmitting or losing defense information." 
 
 The lines are blurry, but Winner and those like her seem in a different class than the Washington insiders who have always leaked to settle internal scores or to make policy points. They are small fries, far from the nation’s power centers, inside a vast intelligence apparatus who decide the public needs to know what they do. Manning leaked from Baghdad; Snowden was based in Hawaii; Winner was in Georgia. 
 
 "These are people who have a greater sense of loyalty to some outside cause than to the organization they are working in, and that’s a new thing for the intelligence community," said a former senior NSA official, who asked not to be named so he could speak more candidly about sensitive topics. 
 
 There is another dimension, another former NSA official said: Too much information is classified, and everyone working in intelligence knows it. 
 
 Related: NSA Leak Mystery Not Solved With Arrest of Hal Martin 
 
 Indeed, the document Winner allegedly leaked did not seem, on its face, to be terribly sensitive. The U.S. government, after all, was perfectly willing to acknowledge its authenticity by charging Winner barely an hour after the story broke on The Intercept, as if to send a message. The charging documents don’t link the case to The Intercept, but officials quickly did so in background comments to reporters. 
 
 Her attorney, Titus Thomas Nichols, said Winner has yet to enter a plea, although a detention hearing is scheduled for Thursday. She remains jailed in Lincoln County. 
 
 "A week ago today she was living her life," he said. "Now she’s in the middle of a political whirlwind." ||||| (CNN) The federal contractor accused of leaking classified information to an online news outlet regarding a 2016 Russian military intelligence cyberattack complained about the Trump administration and posted about leaks on what appears to be her public Twitter account. 
 
 Reality Leigh Winner, 25, was employed as a contractor with Pluribus International Corp., a government facility in Georgia from around February 13, according to an affidavit supporting her arrest. Her Twitter activity dropped significantly after that date. 
 
 The Justice Department announced charges Monday against Winner. She is accused of leaking classified information, used as the basis for an article The Intercept published Monday, detailing a classified National Security Agency memo. 
 
 Twitter account under Sara Winners 
 
 Winner posted on Twitter as Sara Winners but didn't seem too concerned with concealing her identity. Her profile picture is a photo of herself, and she posted a selfie in February. 
 
 She also uses her Twitter username @Reezlie on Instagram; however, her activity on the two platforms differed dramatically. On Instagram, she primarily posted selfies from the gym and pictures of food, while on Twitter she rarely posted about herself, focusing more on politics -- behavior not uncommon for people who use both social networks. 
 
 Accounts she follows 
 
 Winner follows 50 Twitter accounts, among them Edward Snowden, WikiLeaks, several with links to the group Anonymous and "alt" government agency accounts that became popular after President Donald Trump's inauguration, including AltFDA. None of the accounts appear to be personal connections. 
 
 Anti-Trump 
 
 Winner didn't hide her disdain for Trump. On Election Night, when it became apparent that Trump would win, she tweeted, "Well. People suck. #ElectionNight" 
 
 On February 11, she was particularly active on the social network, tweeting directly at the President, describing him as an "orange fascist." 
 
 Melania and I are hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Mrs. Abe at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. They are a wonderful couple! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 11, 2017 
 
 the most dangerous entry to this country was the orange fascist we let into the white house — Sara Winners (@Reezlie) February 11, 2017 
 
 Winner didn't appear to post explicitly about hacking or leaking but did retweet and like several tweets on the topic. 
 
 She "liked' a tweet from the hacking group Anonymous in November that hinted at hacking a Mac computer the then-President-elect was using. 
 
 Donald Trump using a Mac. Very insecure! Would be SAD if something happened!! https://t.co/9DPWiBRgtK — Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) November 29, 2016 
 
 Winner also favorited a February 15 tweet linking to an article about White House press secretary Sean Spicer's reported lax approach to his personal data security and also liked a WikiLeaks tweet linking to a Wall Street Journal reported headlined, "Spies Keep Intelligence From Donald Trump on Leak Concerns." 
 
 WSJ says US intelligence says it is intentionally concealing information from US president @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/1tYJNENLAR pic.twitter.com/u8hzVDZI2q — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 16, 2017 
 
 'Alt' accounts 
 
 She follows several "rogue" Twitter accounts designed to look like they are run by federal agencies. Many of these accounts claim to be run by agency employees unhappy with the Trump administration. 
 
 She retweeted a post in January from the "Rogue NASA" account that attempted to explain why such accounts were becoming more popular. 
 
 Rogue Twitter accounts are fun, but gov't employees and scientists are very afraid of being fired if they speak out & share facts. #resist — Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA) January 25, 2017 
 
 Winner's Twitter activity slowed in mid-February, and the last time she appeared to tweet before her arrest Saturday was on March 5, when she tweeted at Anonymous, "what happened to the Feb 28th call for Trump to resign?" 
 
 Her mother, Billie Winner, said her daughter wasn't especially political and had not praised past leakers such as Snowden to her. "She's never ever given me any kind of indication that she was in favor of that at all," her mother said. "I don't know how to explain it." 
 
 Her court-appointed attorney, Titus Nichols, told CNN he was unable to confirm Tuesday that the Twitter account was Winner's. 
 
 Earlier, he said he believes the government has a political agenda by going after his client, whom he says is a low-level government employee. Nichols said he hasn't seen anything that would lead him to believe Winner is guilty of these charges. 
 
 CNN has reached out to Pluribus International to ask if it was aware of Winner's Twitter account. ||||| Reality Leigh Winner, a federal contractor from Augusta, Georgia, has been charged by the Department of Justice for leaking classified information on a 2016 Russian military intelligence cyberattack to The Intercept, an online news outlet. 
 
 Winner, who is 25 years old, was not a public figure prior to the news of her arrest. Here's what we know about her so far. 
 
 A federal contractor who allegedly took a risk 
 
 Winner served as a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation, according to officials, and had been working at an unidentified government facility in Georgia "since on or about Feb. 13," according to an affidavit in support of application for her arrest warrant, written by Justin C. Garrick, a special agent with the FBI. 
 
 Pluribus International Corporation lists one employee location in Georgia on its website -- Fort Gordon, a United States Army installation -- but it's unclear if that is indeed where Winner was based. 
 
 ABC News reached out to Pluribus International Corporation for a comment about Winner's arrest but did not immediately receive a response. 
 
 She had top secret security clearance at her job, Garrick wrote in the affidavit. 
 
 On or about May 9, 2017, Winner allegedly printed and improperly removed the classified intelligence report, according to Garrick's affidavit, which noted that the material had been dated on May 5. 
 
 The Intercept reached out to the government on May 30 for comment on the story it was planning to run, and on June 1, the FBI was notified about that interaction. 
 
 According to the affidavit, Winner confessed to Agent Garrick on June 3. 
 
 Winner was formally charged by the Justice Department with removing and mailing classified material to a news outlet on Monday. She has not yet entered a plea. 
 
 Her attorney told ABC News that Winner remains in federal custody, and will have a detention hearing on Thursday to determine if she will be released before her trial. 
 
 "A good person ... caught in a political whirlwind" 
 
 Winner is a former Air Force linguist who speaks Pashto, Farsi and Dari, according to her attorney, and had recently worked as a yoga instructor at a studio called Oh Yeah Yoga in Augusta. 
 
 Oh Yeah Yoga owner Annalisa Adams described Winner to ABC News as a "reliable" employee. 
 
 "She taught first class at my studio in January," Adams said. "She started doing sub stuff but eventually - she was so reliable - I gave her two classes." 
 
 She added, "[Winner] was never anything but completely professional and we're honestly all in complete shock that she took this step." 
 
 "She’s a good person with no criminal history who is caught in a political whirlwind," her attorney, Titus Thomas Nichols, told ABC News in a statement Monday night. 
 
 Winner’s mother, Billie Winner-Davis, called her a "very passionate" person who was outspoken about her beliefs. 
 
 "Very passionate about her views and things like that, but she’s never to my knowledge been active in politics or any of that,” Winner-Davis told The Daily Beast on Monday. 
 
 Gary Davis, Winner’s stepfather, described Winner to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday as a veteran and a patriot. 
 
 “She’s a veteran, six years’ service of the Air Force,” he said. “She received commendations during that time. She’s just a passionate young woman who probably made some mistakes.” 
 
 “You may not agree with her politics but she is a patriot,” Davis told the paper. 
 
 Winner's social media presence shows her to be frequently critical of President Trump, and concerned about environmental issues. 
 
 Roughly four months ago, she wrote a Facebook post that was critical of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. 
 
 "Repeat after me: In the United States of America, in the year 2017, access to clean, fresh, water is not a right, but a privilege based off one's socio-economic status," Winner wrote. "If that didn't feel good to say aloud, contact your senators today and tell them those exact words as to why the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines cannot be built on American soil. Let's fix the pipes meant to bring water, sans lead or pollutants, to our citizens before we build pipes meant to benefit big oil and poison the land. #NoDAPL"
– Reality Winner was charged Monday with leaking a document about the Russian hacking of US electoral systems. One of the most surprising things, according to NBC News, was that a 25-year-old had top-level security clearance. But apparently it's not that unusual. Most people who do NSA work involving intercepting communications and translation are just out of high school. "There are thousands and thousands of 18- to 21-year-olds doing critically important and secret work around the world," an expert on the NSA says. Many of them, like Winner, are young members of the military. She served six years in the Air Force. A high security clearance is needed to listen in on terrorists or members of foreign governments. Intelligence officials are concerned that Winner is part of a growing number of American intelligence employees leaking state secrets not for money but because they feel the public has a right to know the information. The election of President Trump is making people feel like they need to take action. CNN details Winner's anti-Trump comments on social media. And ABC News has more information on the 25-year-old, including that she speaks Pashto, Farsi, and Dari and had recently worked as a yoga instructor, where she was known as a "reliable" employee. Winner's mother says her daughter is "very passionate about her views."