NSA Employee Tried to Email US Secrets to Russia

24.10.2023 - 15:51 / pcmag.com

A former National Security Agency employee has pleaded guilty for trying to email state secrets to a Russian agent. 

Jareh Sebastian Dalke, 31, of Colorado originally served as an Information Systems Security Designer at the NSA’s Maryland office last year. But he was found trying to share top secret documents with the Russian government during an FBI sting operation. 

According to the Justice Department, Dalke used an encrypted email account “to transmit excerpts of three classified documents to an individual he believed to be a Russian agent.” His goal was to demonstrate his legitimate access to NSA systems. But in reality, the Russian agent he was communicating with was actually an undercover FBI agent. 

“On or about Aug. 26, 2022, Dalke requested $85,000 in return for all the information in his possession,” the Justice Department added. “Dalke claimed the information would be of value to Russia and told the FBI online covert employee that he would share more information in the future, once he returned to the Washington, D.C. area.”

While in Denver, Colorado, Dalke used a laptop to transfer five more files to the covert FBI agent. Four of the files contained confidential information while the fifth file stored a greeting to the Russian government. “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 wrote. 

On Sept. 28, 2022, the FBI arrested Dalke after he transmitted additional files. He has since pleaded guilty, believing the emailed files would have been used to damage the US while benefiting Russia. Dalke now faces a potential life sentence.

According to the plea agreement, Dalke formerly served in the US Army and obtained a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity and information assurance. He was hired by the NSA, but resigned three weeks later after the agency denied his request for a 9-month leave to help a family member with a medical condition. 

Dalke then reapplied to work at NSA and was accepted at a new position, which was originally supposed to have started on Sept. 28, 2022. During his communication with the undercover FBI officer, Dalke also mentioned that specifically joined the NSA to undermine the US government. 

The plea agreement notes that Dalke "put in for the position he was currently in because he had ‘questioned our role in damage to the world in the past and by mixture of curiosity for secrets and a desire to cause change.’”

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