Former NSA Employee Sentenced for Attempting to Sell Russia Secrets

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Facts

• The US Dept. of Justice announced on Monday that a former National Security Agency (NSA) employee was sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison for selling classified National Defense Information (NDI) to someone he believed to be a Russian agent.¹
• Jareh Dalke, an Army veteran from Colorado Springs, worked at the NSA for just a few weeks, and court documents say he offered to sell top secret documents to a Russian agent for $85K. However, he was actually communicating with an FBI posing as a Russian operative.²
• In communications with the undercover FBI agent in 2022, Dareh said his actions were prompted by 'curiosity for secrets and a desire to cause change' as well as his personal debt. He was arrested in September 2023 while trying to make the final exchange.³
• He admitted to transmitting three sensitive documents to an individual he believed to be a Russian agent via an encrypted email in August and September 2022, and his lawyers argued that he should only receive 14 years because the information never wound up in enemy hands.⁴
• US District Judge Raymond Moore said his decision to sentence Dareh to the 262 months recommended by prosecutors showed 'mercy' and that he could have levied a harsher punishment for his 'brazen' and 'treasonous' behavior.⁴
• Dalke pleaded guilty to six counts of attempting to transmit national security secrets to a foreign agent, and the documents are believed to include a threat assessment of an unnamed country’s military, information on US defense, and details of a US cryptographic program.⁵

Sources: ¹United States Department of Justice, ²France 24, ³CNN, ⁴ABC News and ⁵New York Post.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by BBC News. US intelligence remains one step ahead of adversaries at home and abroad, and Jareh Dalke is the latest example of Western vigilance. The FBI had everything in place to set up the suspicious NSA employee, and an undercover agent was able to successfully trap and arrest him. Russian espionage has long threatened Western security, and intelligence agencies continue to not let their guards down, especially when it comes to counterintelligence. This arrest was especially important with the Ukraine-Russia war still raging.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by RT. The West can never be taken seriously whenever it pontificates about liberties and threats from foreign adversaries. While the US spies on its own citizens and agitates conflict around the world, it continues to play the victim and demonize countries like Russia and China. Meanwhile, award-winning journalist Julian Assange continues to face abuse from many Western governments. The hypocrisy knows no bounds, and the US is the last country to talk about threats of espionage.

Predictions