On his first day of access to the NSA’s surveillance system, a man spied on six e-mail addresses belonging to an ex-girlfriend. The NSA caught him four days later. He claimed that he “wanted to practice on the system and had decided to use this former girlfriend’s e-mail addresses.” He claimed not to have read anyone’s e-mail. He was demoted, assigned 45 days of extra work, lost half his pay for two months, and was denied a security clearance.
