This man spied for the CIA, Russia and Germany out of boredom
If you're bored, maybe find a book to read?
Markus Reichel instead turned to spying on his own country for the U.S. and Russia --and now he's going to prison for it.
A Munich judge on Thursday found the 32-year-old German former intelligence agent guilty of treason and leaking official secrets, sentencing him to eight years behind bars, Deutsche Welle reported.
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Reichel spied for both the CIA and the Russian secret service because he wanted to "experience something exciting."
According to German authorities, Reichel spied for both the CIA and the Russian secret service because he was bored, frustrated with his workplace environment and wanted to "experience something exciting."
Reichel was among the lowest-ranking workers at the BND, drawing a monthly salary of less than $1,400, the AFP reported.
Working with the CIA thrilled Reichel. The agency gave Reichel the codename "Uwe" (pronounced OO-veh) and set up secret meetings in Austria with him.
Reichel told the court stealing sensitive documents was easy. He simply photocopied the papers using a machine beside his desk and then nonchalantly left the BND offices with them in his bag.
Reichel communicated with an American agent codenamed "Alex" through the mail before transmitting messages by email and later directly entering them into hidden software on a CIA-provided computer, said the AFP.
Reichel stole a file listing thousands of German secret agents' identities and their cover names abroad.
The former agent sold over 200 sensitive documents to the CIA between 2008 and 2012, receiving at least $90,000 for the information, reported Deutsche Welle.
What's worse, authorities said, was that Reichel stole a file listing thousands of German secret agents' identities and their cover names abroad.
Reichel also tried to deliver three classified documents to the Russian consulate in 2014, a move that would be his undoing.
German agents intercepted his correspondence with the Russians and used it to set a trap for him in July 2014.
During the trial, Reichel expressed remorse and apologized for his actions, Deutsche Welle said.
"At the BND, I had the impression that no one trusted me with anything," he told the court, "but the CIA was different. You had the opportunity to prove yourself."
"I would be lying if I said that I didn't like that," he added.
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Christopher is Mashable's Senior Correspondent covering world news, particularly the post-Soviet space and especially Ukraine, where he lived and worked for more than five years. As an editor at Ukraine's Kyiv Post newspaper, Christopher was part of the team that won the 2014 Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism for coverage of the Euromaidan Revolution, Russia's annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine. Besides Mashable, he has published with The Telegraph, The Times, The Independent and GlobalPost from such countries as Greece, Italy, Israel, Russia and Turkey, among others, as well as from aboard a search and rescue ship off the Libyan coast. Originally from rainy Portland, Oregon, he is also a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Ukraine) currently based in New York.
