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The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced new sanctions Tuesday targeting eight North Korean banks, as well as 26 DPRK banking officials.

The Treasury Department’s release said the action “targets North Korean use of the international financial system to facilitate its WMD and ballistic missile programs.”

“This further advances our strategy to fully isolate North Korea in order to achieve our broader objectives of a peaceful and denuclearized Korean peninsula,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “This action is also consistent with United Nations Security Council resolutions.”

Earlier this month the UN Security Council adopted a new round of economic sanctions against North Korea following Pyongyang’s test of what may have been a hydrogen bomb.

If fully implemented, the new sanctions would cut a third of North Korea’s oil imports, and reduce by more than half, the country’s gas, diesel and heavy fuel oil imports, while completely banning the import of natural gas and other oil substitutes.

North Korea condemned the UN action, calling it a “full-scale economic blockade” that was aimed at “completely suffocating” the North Korean people.

The 26 North Korean nationals sanctioned Tuesday by the U.S. live abroad but work for North Korean banks. Nineteen are living in China, three are based in Russia and two each are living in Libya and the United Arab Emirates.
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The top U.S. military officer said on Tuesday Iran was complying with the pact curbing its nuclear program and warned that any American decision to walk away from it would make other nations less likely to enter into agreements with the United States.

President Donald Trump is considering whether to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers including the United States, calling the accord an “embarrassment.”

Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Iran was complying with its obligations under the nuclear deal, but had increased its activity in other areas.

“Iran is projecting malign influence across the Middle East, threatening freedom of navigation, while supporting terrorist organizations in Syria, Iraq and Yemen,” Dunford said.

Ability of negotiate

The committee’s top Democrat, Senator Jack Reed, asked Dunford whether walking away from the Iran nuclear pact would affect the U.S. ability to negotiate with North Korea or devise a non-military solution toward Pyongyang.

“It makes sense to me that our holding up agreements that we have signed, unless there is a material breech, would have an impact on others’ willingness to sign agreements,” Dunford said during his reappointment hearing.

Trump this year also announced he would withdraw the United States from the international Paris climate agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

U.S. officials, including senior military leaders, have said that the first option to deal with the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile program is through diplomacy.

The ambassadors to the United States from Britain, France, Germany and the European Union all strongly backed the nuclear agreement with Iran on Monday as long as Tehran continues to comply with the pact.

If Trump does not recertify by Oct. 16 that Iran is in compliance with the agreement, Congress would have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions on Tehran suspended under the accord.

Congress could have last word

That would let Congress, controlled by Trump’s fellow Republicans, effectively decide whether to kill the deal.

Although congressional leaders have declined to say whether they would seek to reimpose sanctions, Republican lawmakers were united in their opposition to the deal reached by Democratic former President Barack Obama.

A collapse of the deal could trigger a regional arms race and worsen Middle East tensions.

Threat posed by Russia

Dunford said that while North Korea currently poses the most urgent threat, Russia presents the biggest threat in terms of overall military capability.

Asked if he supported U.S. lethal aid to Russia’s neighbor Ukraine, Dunford said he does and has “made that recommendation” within the administration. He said discussion of the issue has reached the White House, but did not say when a decision would be made.

Ukraine has sought U.S. support against Russia since a pro-Western government took power following street protests in 2014, when the Kremlin-backed president fled the country. Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine the same year.

Dunford also said the United States would not be able to “attain our objectives” in Afghanistan, where American forces have been deployed since 2001, without a change of behavior by neighboring Pakistan.

“It is unacceptable that Pakistan provides sanctuary, and we ought to bring the full weight of the U.S. government and our coalition partners on Pakistan to ensure that they do not provide the sanctuary that they have provided historically to groups like Haqqani and the Taliban,” Dunford said.

US remains frustrated by Pakistan

U.S. officials remain frustrated by what they term Pakistan’s unwillingness to act against Islamist militant groups including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network.

The Trump administration is exploring whether to harden its approach toward Pakistan to crack down on militants launching strikes in Afghanistan.

Pakistan argues that it has done a great deal to help the United States in tracking down militants, and says it has suffered hundreds of deaths in Islamist attacks in response to its crackdowns.

 
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Miami is a city that lives on air conditioning. When it fails, people can die.

After Hurricane Irma knocked down power lines and disconnected the cooling system at a nursing home north of Miami this month, 11 residents perished when temperatures inside soared.

Florida Governor Rick Scott blamed management at the facility for allowing patients to endure sweltering conditions as the heat index — a measure of combined heat and humidity — passed 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

But public outrage has also targeted the local utility company for not restoring electricity fast enough, and the city for not ordering and assisting with an evacuation.

In this often sweltering southern city, widespread use of air conditioning makes it easy to overlook the growing risks of extreme heat. But the risks are there — and they can be just one power failure away.

Around the world, a surge in extreme weather events, including storms, floods and droughts, has focused attention on the risks associated with global warming.

But one of the biggest threats — and a particularly serious one for already hot countries and cities — is worsening heat waves, which remain an under-estimated risk, experts say.

In the United States, Florida is predicted to experience the greatest increase in the deadly combination of heat and humidity over the next decades.

The number of extreme heat days, when the heat index is above 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40.6 degrees Celsius), is expected to jump to 126 a year by 2030 and 151 by 2050 in Miami, according to a study by Climate Central, a U.S. nonprofit science and media organization.

In 2000, Miami saw 24 such extreme heat days, the study noted.

Miami’s sweating residents — particularly those who spend a lot of time outside — say they’re noticing the difference already.

“I’ve been here all my life and working in construction, and I can tell you: It’s getting hotter every year,” said Rai Finalet, as he moved barriers along Little Havana’s Flagler Street, which is being repaved.

On a summer day in early September, there was not even a hint of fall in the air. Instead it was 93 degrees, with a heat index of 107 degrees.

Finalet’s long-sleeve shirt, which he needed to protect his skin from the scorching sun, had been soaked since he started his shift at 8 a.m., he said.

Taking frequent breaks and drinking “gallons” of water is his secret to surviving an outdoor job, even as most Miami residents try to avoid stepping out of air-conditioned spaces.

Tourists wilt

With only a thin canopy of trees and a location far from Miami’s breezy shores, densely populated Little Havana often registers the city’s hottest temperatures.

In the summer, which effectively lasts from April through October, the average temperature is often above 86 degrees and very few locals venture out on the streets around midday.

But Nolvia Hernandez, parasol in hand, had rushed out to pick up her son from school.

“I avoid going out during the hottest times of the day, and when I do, I take my umbrella,” she said. Asked why she was wearing a long-sleeve shirt, she said the air conditioning is kept very cold at her workplace.

Tourists regularly brave the heat to experience iconic Little Havana, where hundreds of thousands of Cuban immigrants settled over the decades, opening quaint cigar shops, lively restaurants and salsa clubs.

At the Ball and Chain, a traditional bar with a live salsa band playing most days and evenings, a powerful misting system along the facade offers visitors an inviting respite from the heat.

Next door, the Azucar ice cream shop, with its powerful air conditioning, is another spot where tourists can take a break from suffocating temperatures outside.

Veronica Agudo, Lucia Beth Marcoleta and Tatiana Harder walk in and breathe a big sigh of relief as the cold air sweeps over them. The friends from Chile sit on a bench and slouch against the wall, sweat trickling down their faces.

“This humidity is killing us,” said Marcoleta. “We want to walk around and see all the sights, but it’s just so hot.” “It’s better to stay on Miami Beach, in the water, for our entire vacation,” Agudo joked.

One outdoors spot in the heart of Little Havana where temperatures are cooler is Maximo Gomez park, also known as Domino Park. It’s a small green oasis with lush trees where residents play dominoes and chess on tables under gazebos fitted with ceiling fans.

Leo Diaz, one of the players, lives in a building with a new central air system, but prefers to spend time outdoors. He worries about Miami’s future as climate change boosts temperatures.

“This city is building more, paving more areas, and we can all feel that the climate is changing. Soon we won’t even be able to stand being here. I hope I don’t see that in my lifetime,” said the former radio announcer who arrived in Miami from Cuba almost 30 years ago.

‘Immune’ to heat

Already heat is the top weather-related killer in the United States — but it is a silent one, with heat-linked illnesses often diagnosed as other disorders, said Laurence Kalkstein, a climatology professor at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine.

In places like Florida, there is low awareness of heat risks because people expect days to be hot, and the state is relatively well-equipped to deal with high temperatures, he said.

“Heat-related mortality isn’t very common here, so most people believe they are immune to it,” he noted. “But we have a growing vulnerable population — of aging people who don’t sweat as efficiently, and others like the homeless, obese people, or those on certain medications.”

In steamy Florida, high humidity makes it harder for sweat to evaporate, preventing the body from cooling off. That’s what can cause heat exhaustion and potentially deadly heat stroke — and what may have contributed to the deaths at the nursing home.

Climate change has already given Florida a lot to worry about, with many officials so far more focused on dealing with rising sea level and worsening flooding than heat threats.

But cities in Florida also have created “resilience” offices to try to adapt to and plan for coming changes, including worsening monster storms — and rising heat.

“Heat is an issue for low-income communities and more vulnerable individuals, [such as] the elderly population,” Jane Gilbert, the chief resilience officer for the city of Miami, said in an interview before Hurricane Irma.

“We want to understand better if there are places where people can’t afford to have air conditioning, and to have an efficient plan for the more vulnerable groups to evacuate to shelters in case of power outages,” she said.

Miami is also working to increase the number of trees in neighborhoods such as Little Havana, and to guarantee that key facilities, such as hospitals, gas stations and supermarkets, have alternative power sources when electricity fails, she said.

After Irma, more than 12 million people lost power. Many had already evacuated to other areas, fearing the aftermath of being stuck at home for days without air conditioning or working refrigerators.

Air conditioning boom

The invention of air conditioning has in many ways made modern Florida possible, fueling a population boom after World War II, according to a history book by the University of South Florida.

The state’s famed tourism industry, its top revenue generator, for instance, only took off after most hotels invested hefty sums in efficient cooling systems by the 1960s.

Now nearly everyone relies on air conditioning — and plenty of it.

Silvana Giuffrida, an architect in Miami, has three units in her townhouse-style condo in the luxury Brickell neighborhood, one on each floor.

She keeps her home’s remote-controlled shades down as much as possible to reduce the heat that floods into her sun-bathed home facing spectacular Biscayne Bay.

“I try to keep the temperature around 78 degrees, which is also the best level for energy efficiency,” she said.

Drinking a lot of water, wearing light-colored clothes and avoiding going outside in peak temperature hours are also part of her routine to beat the heat, she said.

For the most vulnerable, however, state authorities have decided to step up protections after the nursing home tragedy exposed the dangers of extreme heat.

Governor Scott issued an emergency order requiring nursing homes to have generators that can keep air conditioners running for up to four days.

Kalkstein, of the University of Miami, said the deaths highlight the risk that heat poses for Miami — and for many more cities.

“What we all need to realize is that these excessive heat events will happen more and more often, all over the world, and we all need to be more aware of the potential health impacts,” he said.
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U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis took steps to reinforce a quickly growing defense partnership with India on Tuesday, declaring the relationship has “never been stronger.”

During meetings with senior Indian officials in New Delhi, Mattis stressed that the United States and India are “natural strategic partners who share common values and interests.”

“This is, again, a historic opportunity for our two democracies, a time of strategic convergence,” Mattis said alongside his Indian counterpart, Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The U.S. sees India as a counterweight to the rising influence of China, and hopes to persuade New Delhi to become more involved in bringing stability to Afghanistan.

“We applaud India’s invaluable contributions to Afghanistan, and welcome further efforts to promote Afghanistan’s democracy, stability, and security,” Mattis said.

Pakistan, India’s longtime rival, opposes New Delhi’s expanded involvement in Afghanistan, fearing a future war with its strategic rival, (India), on two fronts.

Sitharaman on Tuesday downplayed those concerns, pointing out that most of India’s support for Afghanistan has been non-military.

“We have made it very clear that there shall not be boots from India on the ground,” Sitharaman said.

India has invested billions of dollars in Afghanistan, mostly in sectors such as health, education and infrastructure. India also recently agreed to expand its support for Afghan defense forces, which includes training of Afghan army personnel.

Terrorist havens

Mattis also found common ground with Sitharaman on what they say is Pakistan’s support for militant groups in Afghanistan. Sitharaman says she raised the issue directly with Mattis.

“The very same forces which find safe haven in Pakistan have been the ones who have hit New York as much as Mumbai,” Sitharaman said.

Although Mattis did not mention Pakistan directly, he added, “There can be no tolerance of terrorist safe havens.”

Mattis does not plan to visit Pakistan during his trip; but, U.S. officials deny that is meant as a slight to Islamabad.

“The relationship we are building with India is not to the exclusion of other countries,” Mattis told reporters.

Expanding defense ties

Many in Pakistan are skeptical about burgeoning U.S. defense ties with India.

In 2016, the U.S. declared India a “Major Defense Partner,” a unique label that gave it access to a wider range of U.S. military technologies.

The U.S.-India defense trade has expanded quickly. In 2008, such trade stood at roughly $1 billion. If current deals being negotiated were to go through, that could increase to around $19 billion.

“I am confident that we are entering a new phase in our strategic defense partnership with the United States,” said Sitharaman. She added that both sides have agreed to explore “additional, specialized” military exercises.

The U.S.- India partnership has taken on greater importance with China’s growing economic clout and increasing assertiveness with its neighbors in the South China Sea.

In his remarks Tuesday, Mattis hinted at the South China Sea issue, saying India and the U.S. both support an “open, just, and rules-based global order.”

“A peaceful and prosperous future in the Indo-Pacific region is based on a strong rules-based international order and a shared commitment to international law, peaceful resolution of disputes, and respect for territorial integrity,” he said.

Mattis, who is making his first visit to India as Pentagon chief, also met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and laid a wreath at a memorial to India’s World War I dead.

 
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U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday continued his focus on the National Football League, using his early morning tweets to highlight the Dallas Cowboys after the team kneeled in unison before their game Monday night and then stood for the playing of the country’s national anthem.

Ahead of this week’s NFL games, Trump had called on NFL owners to fire the players — most of them black — who refused to stand for the national anthem.

How it started

The protests started last year when former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand during the anthem to draw attention to disparities in the treatment of racial minorities in the United States, including incidents of police brutality directed at African-Americans.

After Trump’s comments, hundreds of players responded Sunday and Monday by sitting, kneeling or locking arms during the anthems at their games.

Trump contended Monday in Twitter comments that the “issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race” but rather respect for the U.S. flag.

Numerous NFL team owners, at least two of whom had contributed $1 million apiece to Trump’s inaugural celebration in January, issued statements in support of the players’ protest, not Trump’s call to fire them, and some joined in linking arms with their players.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump believes it is important to “support national pride in our country…. I know it’s a priority for the president to always defend our flag, always defend the national anthem and certainly to support the men and women in uniform.”

One of the NFL’s top quarterbacks, Tom Brady of the New England Patriots, told a radio interviewer Monday, “I certainly disagree with what (Trump) said (about NFL players). I thought it was just divisive… Like I said, I just want to support my teammates. I am never one to say, ‘Oh, that is wrong. That is right.’ I do believe in what I believe in. I believe in bringing people together and respect and love and trust. Those are the values that my parents instilled in me.”

A smaller number of other NFL players had also taken up the kneeling protest before Sunday, as did players from the Women’s National Basketball Association, a player for the U.S. women’s national soccer team, and on Saturday a Major League Baseball player. But Sunday marked a massive expansion following fresh criticism from Trump.

“There is inequality out there,” said Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman. “There isn’t liberty and justice for all, and I think guys for a while, at least a year now, have been protesting that by taking a knee, sitting down, putting up the fist … but their voices were watered down.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Trump’s comments were divisive and disrespectful to athletes who were trying to make a heartfelt statement.

Mixed reaction at stadiums

At NFL stadiums Sunday, some fans booed or yelled at players to stand during the anthem, while others greeted the protests with applause. Social media showed a similar mix of reactions.

The demonstrations took on different forms, representing the various stances held throughout the league. Buffalo Bills linebacker Lorenzo Alexander was among those who took a knee during the anthem Sunday, but said he would return to standing for the next game.

“Me taking a knee doesn’t change the fact that I support our military, I’m a patriot and I love my country,” Alexander said. “But I also recognize there are some social injustices in this country and today I wanted to take a knee in support of my brothers who have been doing it.”

The Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans did not come onto the field during the playing of the national ceremony. The Pittsburgh Steelers remained just off the field during the anthem except for one player, Army veteran Alejandro Villanueva, who stood outside with a hand over his heart.

Villanueva did not speak to reporters after the game, but he clarified Monday that it was not his intention to stand apart from his team. He said the plan was to be with the Steelers captains at the front of the team but still inside the tunnel. Before the anthem began, he walked out far enough to see the flag, only to have the song start while he was still out there. He said he felt it would look bad if he turned away and walked into the tunnel at that point, so he remained in place.

“It’s a very embarrassing part on my end,” Villanueva said. “When everyone sees images of me standing by myself, everybody thinks the team and the Steelers are not behind me and that is absolutely wrong. It’s quite the opposite.”

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, one of the $1 million Trump inauguration donors, said he was “deeply disappointed by the tone of the comments” Trump made.

Trump’s tirades against the NFL players came as he disinvited National Basketball Association star Stephen Curry to visit the White House to celebrate along with the NBA champion Golden State Warriors. Curry had said he was unlikely to attend because of Trump’s comments on the treatment of minorities.

After Trump denounced Curry, another NBA superstar, LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers, spoke out in support of Curry. James called Trump “a bum” online, and said: “Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!”
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Defense Secretary Jim Mattis emphasized Tuesday the U.S. seeks a peaceful resolution to escalating tensions with North Korea, despite Pyongyang’s claim that a tweet by President Donald Trump on Monday was tantamount to a declaration of war.

In New Delhi for talks with Indian officials about strengthening U.S.-India ties, Mattis said that while the U.S. military presence on the Korean Peninsula is necessary to deter North Korea’s threats, it also supports diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict peacefully.

“And that is our goal, to solve this diplomatically, and I believe President Trump has been pretty clear on this issue,” Mattis said, following a meeting with India’s defense minister.

On Monday, President Donald Trump commented on Twitter that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s regime “won’t be around much longer” if the North carried out its recent threats.

 Speaking to reporters near United Nations headquarters in New York, North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong Ho said, “given the fact that this comes from someone who is currently holding the seat of United States presidency, this is clearly a declaration of war.”

The foreign minister added that the United Nations and the whole world should clearly remember that it was the U.S. who first declared war on our country.”

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called Ri’s characterization of the tweet “absurd.”

“We’ve not declared war on North Korea,” she said.

Bona fide crisis

Although North Korea has declared “war” many times in the past, now “we’ve entered a bona fide crisis,” Van Jackson, senior lecturer in international relations at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, tells VOA.

“Even if we’re not in a war right now, we seem to be doing everything in our power to make one happen by actions and statements that make deterrence more likely to fail,” says Jackson, a former director for Korea policy and a defense strategy advisor at the U.S. Defense Department.

Ri warned that his country might shoot down U.S. strategic bombers, even if they are not in North Korean airspace. According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency Tuesday, Lee Cheol-woo, the chief of the National Assembly’s intelligence committee, said that Pyongyang was spotted readjusting the position of its warplanes and boosting its defensive capabilities along its east coast.

A fighter jet from North Korea in 1969 shot down an unarmed U.S. Navy reconnaissance plane, outside North Korean territorial airspace in the Sea of Japan, killing 30 sailors and one marine on board.

Speaking at a security conference on Monday, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said the United States hopes to avoid war with North Korea “but what we can’t do is discount that possibility.”

The Army Lt. General added that the U.S. has thought through several different ways the problem with North Korea could be resolved and “some are uglier than others.”

McMaster, told the conference hosted by the Institute for the Study of War, however, “there’s not a precision strike that solves the problem.”

One peaceful solution, according to McMaster, would be for Pyongyang to give access to inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. But any diplomatic negotiations, McMaster said, would “have to happen under conditions that are different from previous talks.” He said, however, he was not going to come up with a list of pre-conditions.

China’s role

Some analysts see the path to talks still running through Beijing, which recently moved to cut banking ties between China and North Korea, as well as shutting off the supply of liquefied natural gas to the North Koreans and stopping imports of their textiles.

“I think that the Chinese are sending a signal to the North that they are skating on thin ice,” says T.J. Pempel, a political science professor at University of California, Berkeley.

The North Korean foreign minister threatened on Saturday that his country could conduct an atmospheric hydrogen bomb test over the Pacific Ocean.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis responded Monday that if North Korea carried out its threat, “This would be a shocking display of irresponsibility toward global health, toward stability, toward non-proliferation.”

U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers from Guam escorted by F-16 fighter jets from a U.S. base in Japan on Saturday, flew in international airspace over waters east of North Korea.

The Pentagon says the show of force, meant to display some of the military options available to President Trump, was “the farthest north of the demilitarized zone any U.S. fighter or bomber aircraft have flown off North Korea’s coast in the 21st century.”

Pempel, at Berkeley, tells VOA he does not see the North Koreans, despite their amplified bellicose rhetoric, eager to go to war.

The North Koreans know, Pempel says, that a war “will ultimately lead to the destruction of the regime.”

Describing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as “Rocket Man” on a suicide mission, Trump used his maiden address to the U.N. General Assembly last Tuesday to warn Pyongyang that its current course could lead to “total destruction.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in an unusual signed statement, called Trump a “dotard” expressing “mentally deranged behavior.”

VOA’s William Gallo contributed to this report from New Delhi.
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The Trump administration announced Monday that it would offer at least $200 million in grant funding annually for programs that offer science, technology, engineering, math (STEM), and particularly computer science education.

With 6 million job openings in the United States, administration officials said it was making the pledge to extend computer science education because of a skills gap.

Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump and an adviser to the administration, said less than half of kindergarten through 12th grade schools in the U.S. offer a single computer course. She plans to head to Detroit on Tuesday with tech leaders from Microsoft, Code.org and others.

“As a country we want to embrace innovation, but we need to plan for it,” she said.

The grant program is not new. President Trump was expected to sign a presidential memorandum on the program Monday at the White House, directing Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to prioritize STEM education, with a focus on computer science, in existing competitive grant programs.  STEM education involves specific disciplines taught together in an interdisciplinary and applied approach.

The announcement is expected to be followed Tuesday with pledges from businesses, such as Google and Facebook.

Ivanka Trump noted that women make up 22 percent of the technology work force, down from 35 percent in 1990. While designing their programs, grant seekers should keep “gender and racial diversity in mind,” she said.

The program’s goal is to offer every student in the country access to technology education, said a senior administration official.

“We want it to reach across the country,” said the official. “Certainly that includes areas that are under-represented…We can’t allow our students to be left behind.”
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Attorneys for a young woman accused of leaking a classified U.S. report want a judge to free her from jail pending trial, arguing prosecutors have added no new charges months after they warned the woman may have stolen additional secrets.

Reality Winner, a former Air Force linguist with a top-secret security clearance, worked as a government contractor in Augusta until June, when she was charged with copying a classified report and mailing it to an online news organization.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian K. Epps has scheduled a hearing Friday to reconsider releasing 25-year-old Winner on bond. He ordered her jailed in June after prosecutors said Winner may have taken more than a single classified report. They said Winner had inserted a portable hard drive into a top-secret Air Force computer before she left the military last year.

Winner’s defense lawyers argued in a court filing Saturday that prosecutors have not accused Winner of any additional crimes more than three months later. They noted several other cases in which defendants accused of leaking multiple secret documents were freed on pre-trial bonds.

“Ms. Winner is accused of leaking a single document a single time to a single source,” Winner’s attorneys wrote. “… Detention should not be presumed. It is not the norm. It is not appropriate here.”

Prosecutors had not yet filed a response Monday afternoon.

Jennifer Solari, an assistant U.S. attorney, warned the judge in June that investigators had not found the portable hard drive Winner plugged into an Air Force computer and didn’t know what might be on it.

Winner’s lawyers included an email from Solari in their latest court filing in which the prosecutor noted she was mistaken when she previously told the judge that Winner was recorded in a jailhouse phone conversation saying, “Mom, those documents. I screwed up.”

Solari wrote that the recording shows Winner actually told her mother: “I leaked a document.”

Authorities haven’t described the classified report Winner is accused of leaking or named the news outlet that received it. But the Justice Department announced Winner’s arrest on the same day The Intercept reported it had obtained a classified National Security Agency report suggesting Russian hackers attacked a U.S. voting software supplier before last year’s presidential election. The NSA report was dated May 5, the same as the document Winner is charged with leaking.
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