Ex-NSA staffer gets 21 years for trying to sell defense information to 'friends' in Russia [View all]

Source: USA Today

Published 11:16 p.m. ET April 29, 2024 | Updated 11:16 p.m. ET April 29, 2024


The letter from the former National Security Agency employee, written in Cyrillic characters, is not at all what you would expect to end up in the hands of a Russian agent. “My friends!" Dalke told the purported operative, according to court documents. “I am very happy to finally provide this information to you . . . I look forward to our friendship and shared benefit."

Moments after Jareh Sebastian Dalke hit send, FBI agents arrested him. His supposed Russian handler was an undercover FBI agent and the operation was part of a sting operation that on Monday ended with Dalke getting a 21-year federal prison sentence for attempted espionage.

Dalke, 32, a former information systems security designer at the NSA, was heavily in debt with student loans and credit card debt. He said in what he thought were secret letters that he wanted $85,000 for sensitive national security information that he told his supposed contact would help Russia.

“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,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said Monday. “This sentence demonstrates that that those who seek to betray our country will be held accountable for their crimes.”

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/04/29/nsa-sentenced-prison-espionage-act-russia/73505746007/