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Ex-NSA Employee Employed For Less Than A MONTH At Spy Headquarters Is Accused Of Trying To Sell Top Secret Material To Russia In Exchange For Cryptocurrency And $85,000
- A man who worked for the NSA for a month was charged with attempting to sell top-secret information to the Russian government
- Jareh Sebastion Dalke, 30, of Colorado Springs has been charged with three espionage violations
- Dalke spent a month communicating with a man he thought was a Russian government agent but was actually an undercover FBI agent
- If convicted, he could face life in prison or the death penalty
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The FBI has arrested and charged a former NSA operative who attempted to sell classified documents to the Russian Foreign Service, according to documents released this week.
Jareh Sebastian Dalke, 30, of Colorado Springs, had been working for the National Security Agency for less than a month when he contacted a person he believed to be a representative of the Russian government.
But the contact was actually an undercover FBI agent, according to an indictment filed Thursday.
Dalke began communicating via encrypted email on July 29, 2022, with a person he believed to have ties to the Kremlin, but who was actually an FBI agent.
Dalke worked as an Information Systems Security Designer for only one month from June 6 this year to July 1. However, in late July, he told the undercover FBI agent that he was still employed by the US government.
Although he was not employed by the NSA during the time he communicated with the undercover FBI agent, he reapplied to the NSA in August for actively trying to sell American secrets.
He first requested payment through an undisclosed form and cryptocurrency amount, and then requested $85,000 for additional information at the end of August.
Pictured: NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. Dalke worked for the NSA for just one month in the summer of 2022 before attempting to sell Top Secret US information to Russian opponents
The exchanges confirm that Dalke told the individual that he had stolen highly sensitive information related to US targeting and cyber operations and that he wanted to sell it.
He is accused of sending classified documents to the Russian foreign intelligence service.
Dalke reportedly contacted the FBI’s online secret agent, who he believed to be an agent of Russia, and said he had “recently learned that my ancestry can be traced back to your country, which is part of of the reason why I have come to you.”
He continued his insidious messages, saying that he reached out because he “has questioned our role in the damage to the world in the past and a mixture of curiosity for secrets and a desire to effect change.”
To prove he had access to sensitive information, Dalke sent extracts of several classified documents to the undercover agent – one on the secret level and two on the top secret level.
He also expressed financial need during communication.
Dalke was arrested September 28 in Denver, Colorado, where he had agreed to meet with the FBI agent to hand over classified information.
The FBI says Dalke was a volunteer with the Colorado Rangers, a reserve law enforcement agency.
In his own resume, Dalke described himself as a lieutenant and commander of the Colorado Rangers’ digital crime unit, according to CBS.
He has been charged with three violations of the Espionage Act, under which it is a crime to pass on or attempt to pass on national defense information to a representative of another country with reason to believe that the information could be used to harm the US.
If convicted, Dalke could face an unlimited number of years in prison, up to life or the death penalty.