Former FBI intelligence analyst Kendra Kingsbury, 50, was sentenced to a nearly four-year prison term for unauthorized possession of classified documents related to national defense in her private residence, as announced by the Department of Justice (DOJ) last Thursday.
The charges against Kingsbury and her subsequent sentence closely follow the indictment and arraignment of former President Trump on similar charges of alleged mishandling classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, post-presidency.
The DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs release stated that Kingsbury “improperly removed and willfully retained” a total of 386 classified documents over her 12-year service period with the FBI’s Kansas City division, according to a report from The Hill.
These papers, which were discovered in her Missouri home, held “extremely sensitive national defense information.”
It was also reported by the Kansas City Star that some of these files were found in Kingsbury’s bathroom, akin to allegations detailed in Trump’s indictment which reportedly cited classified documents being stored in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom among other locations.
Throughout her tenure, Kingsbury held a “TOP SECRET/SCI” clearance level which granted her access to classified information and national defense matters.
Despite receiving training materials clearly stating that she was “prohibited from retaining classified information at her personal residence,” Kingsbury defied this rule, said the DOJ.
The illicitly held documents, some of which were classified at the “SECRET” level, encompassed significant details about government activities in counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and cyber operations.
They also provided insights into specific investigations and “sensitive human-source operations.”
In addition, Kingsbury was accused of retaining SECRET-level documents from another government agency.
These documents contained information about members of al Qaeda and a suspected associate of Usama bin Laden, according to the release.
The DOJ’s release further conveyed concern over the potential risks to national security.
“Kingsbury put national security at risk by retaining classified information in her home that would have, if in the wrong hands, revealed some of the government’s most important and secretive methods of collecting essential national security intelligence,” it said.
The motives behind Kingsbury’s actions remain unclear.
The FBI’s investigation into “what uses” she had for the classified documents “revealed more questions and concerns than answers.”
Kingsbury is set to serve 46 months in federal prison and an additional three years under supervised release, following her guilty plea to two counts of unlawfully retaining documents pertinent to national defense in October.
