While I agree death is a bit extreme, we do need to craft a system where knowingly providing data on American Citizens to enemies of this nation carries severe

While I agree death is a bit extreme, we do need to craft a system where knowingly providing data on American Citizens to enemies of this nation carries severe and unfair consequences. The punishment does need to be oversized, to serve as a deterrent. Do we know if this was deliberate or accidental? If the contract was explicit, and this individual knowingly violated it, then the intent is pretty clear even if the goal was not to aid China but rather to save money or similar. We see how pitiful punishments are for malfeasant corporate executives - and we see how often they recid or are copied by others cleaver enough to calculate the punishment does not outweigh the crime. The consequences for giving sensitive citizen data to China, Russia or any other nation should be severe enough to make folks think very hard before trying it. Our election meddling problem will only grow worse in the future as our adversaries grow more and more sophisticated... best we don't help them along.