Wikileaks publishes CIA chief’s emails

The material presumably was taken in a compromise of John Brennan’s email account by a hacker who says he is a high school student protesting American foreign policy.

CIA chief John Brennan. According to a media report, a teenaged hacker had broken into Mr. Brennan's personal email account and swiped sensitive files including a top-secret application for a security clearance.

Wikileaks has posted material from what appears to be CIA director John Brennan’s personal email account, including a draft security clearance application containing personal information.

The material presumably was taken in a compromise of Mr. Brennan’s email account by a hacker who says he is a high school student protesting American foreign policy. The hacker claims he posed as a Verizon employee and tricked another employee into revealing Brennan’s personal information.

RELEASE: CIA Director John Brennan emails >https://t.co/GC22CxkRkV>#CIAemails>pic.twitter.com/XdjkVPS5GW

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) >October 21, 2015

ANNOUNCE: We have obtained the contents of CIA Chief John Brennan's email account and will be releasing it shortly.

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) >October 21, 2015

It was not immediately clear whether any national security information was compromised in the release of the clearance application, which includes his wife’s Social Security number and the names of people Mr. Brennan worked with over a long prior career at the CIA. The application predated his job as White House counter terrorism adviser.