(Patriot.Buzz) – A former National Security Agency (NSA) employee was sentenced to over 21 years in prison for attempting to sell classified information to what he believed was a Russian contact, who was actually an undercover FBI agent.
The ex-employee, Jareh Sebastian Dalke, faced a 262-month prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to six counts of trying to transmit U.S. national security secrets.
During the sentencing, U.S. District Judge Raymond Moore remarked, “This was blatant. It was brazen and, in my mind, it was deliberate. It was a betrayal, and it was as close to treasonous as you can get,” according to reports from the Associated Press.
Dalke, an Army veteran and former information systems security designer at the NSA, engaged with the undercover agent between August and September 2022.
He used an encrypted email to send excerpts of three documents labeled Top Secret//Sensitive Compartmented Information, in exchange for $16,499 in cryptocurrency.
He further demanded an additional $85,000 for more classified information he claimed to have access to through his position.
During their communications, Dalke assured the agent that the documents would be beneficial to Russia and said he was willing to sell more U.S. secrets in the future.
On September 28, 2023, he met with the FBI agent at Union Station in Denver, where he handed over four classified files and a letter written in Russian, beginning with “My friends!”
The letter further read, “I am very happy to finally provide this information to you … I look forward to our friendship and shared benefit. Please let me know if there are desired documents to find and I will try when I return to my main office.”
Dalke was caught shortly after this exchange.
Attorney General Merrick Garland highlighted betrayal as grave, stating, “This defendant, who had sworn an oath to defend our country, believed he was selling classified national security information to a Russian agent, when in fact, he was outing himself to the FBI.”
“This sentence demonstrates that those who seek to betray our country will be held accountable for their crimes,” Garland added.
The information Dalke attempted to sell included a military threat assessment, details about U.S. defense capabilities and specifics of a U.S. cryptographic program.
Dalke blamed his actions on severe debt, post-traumatic stress disorder and his Russian heritage.
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