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A former National Security Agency (NSA) employee pleaded guilty to attempting to sell classified information to Russia.
Jareh Sebastian Dalke, a 31-year-old U.S. Army veteran, agreed to the guilty plea after being accused of giving classified information to an undercover FBI agent, according to a report from NBC News.
Dalke faced a possible life sentence in the case, but agreed to the plea in exchange for a vow by federal prosecutors that they would not ask for more than 22 years in prison.
FORMER NSA WORKER ARRESTED FOR TRYING TO SELL US SECRETS TO FOREIGN GOVERNMENT
A sign for the National Security Agency, U.S. Cyber Command and Central Security Service, is seen near the visitors entrance to the headquarters of the National Security Agency. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
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The plea comes after Dalke was arrested in September 2022, when he arrived at a Denver train station with a laptop and transferred classified documents to undercover officers. According to prosecutors, the information the Army veteran attempted to give Russia included a threat assessment of the military offensive capabilities of an unnamed country. Dalke also attempted to pass along classified U.S. defense information, according to the indictment.
Dalke allegedly told the undercover FBI agent that he had $237,000 in debt and decided to work with Russia because his heritage “ties back to your country,” with the Army veteran opening and closing a thank-you letter in Russian and indicating that he looked “forward to our friendship and shared benefit.”
The National Security Agency logo is shown on a computer screen inside the Threat Operations Center in Fort Meade, Maryland. (Photo by Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images)
The former NSA employee had worked as an information systems security designer for less than a month when he attempted to pass the classified information, then attempted to reapply at the intelligence agency after the exchange, prosecutors allege.
The Pentagon is seen from a flight taking off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Despite Dalke’s agreement with prosecutors, a judge will have the final say the amount of prison time he receives during April sentencing.
