A former National Security Agency official was sentenced Monday to more than 21 years in prison for selling classified materials to suspected Russian agents.
The man that Jarre Sebastian Dalke thought was a Russian official was actually an undercover FBI agent.
Dalke pleaded guilty last year to six counts of attempting to transmit national security secrets to foreign agents and will spend 262 months in prison for espionage.
“It was blatant. It was brazen, and in my opinion, it was intentional. It was a betrayal, as close to treason as you can get,” U.S. District Judge Raymond Moore told the 32-year-old from Colorado Springs. This was reported at the man’s sentencing hearing. Associated Press.
Dalke, an Army veteran, was employed by the NSA as an information systems security architect.
Between August and September 2022, he used an encrypted email account to send three documents marked Top Secret, the highest level of classification, in exchange for $16,499. Admitted sending excerpts of documents to individuals believed to be Russian agents. With crypto currency.
The paper said Dalke asked for an additional $85,000 for the remainder of the national security secrets he held through his work at the NSA. Ministry of Justice.
Mr. Dalke told an undercover FBI agent that the material was valuable to Russia and could sell more American secrets in the future.
On September 28, 2023, a former NSA employee went to Union Station in Denver, where he transferred four classified files and a letter in Russian that began with “Friend!” to FBI undercover agents. It goes on to say, “I’m very happy to finally be able to share this information with you all…I look forward to our friendship and sharing of interests. Please let me know if you need any documentation. I’ll check it when I get back to our headquarters.” Let me do it.”
Mr. Dalke was arrested shortly after the file transfer.
“This defendant, who swore an oath to protect our country, believed he was selling classified national security information to Russian operatives, when in fact he turned himself in to the FBI,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. said.
“This verdict shows that those who seek to betray our country will be held accountable for their crimes,” he added.
According to the indictment, documents that Mr. Dalke believed he was providing to Russia included threat assessments of unnamed countries’ military strike capabilities, information about U.S. defense capabilities, and details of U.S. encryption programs. That’s what it means.
Dalke said he made the decision to sell U.S. secrets because he was deeply in debt, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and was of Russian descent.
