Another NSA Leaker Identified and Charged

>According to the indictment, in August 2014, Mr. Hale’s cellphone contact list included information for the reporter...

That sounds like they used his Google Account/iCloud account to find back-ups and that was how they found that information. Otherwise, that's oddly specific for having been almost five years ago, now.

Jeez. Get a phone or other comms that can't be traced directly back to you. Destroy hard disks and thumb drives completely--invest in a blowtorch. Stay off the Internet and especially no cloud services--they are hoovering up everything. You want to play in that world and stay alive you have to be 10 steps ahead of them.