Former NSA Employee Arrested for Trying to Sell Top Secret Information
A former NSA employee has appeared in federal court this week after he was caught attempting to sell classified National Defense Information (NDI) to a foreign government in return for cryptocurrency.
30-year-old Jareh Sebastian Dalke only worked for the NSA as a Information Systems Security Designer for a few weeks earlier this year (June 6, 2022, to July 1, 2022). During that period he stole classified documents and set about selling them to an individual he believed worked for a foreign government. In fact, Dalke was actually talking to an undercover FBI agent.
Subsequent communication via an encrypted email address saw Dalke send excerpts from three documents to the undercover agent as proof he had classified information to sell. The excerpts confirmed Dalke had stolen one Secret level document and two Top Secret level documents, and he was sent cryptocurrency in return for the information.
Dalke was eventually arrested on Sept. 28. He had requested a further $85,000 in August for additional classified information in his possession. The undercover FBI agent arranged for him to transmit it via a secure connection at a public location, and the arrest was carried out when Dalke arrived at that location.
Even though Dalke was no longer employed at the NSA he maintained that he was throughout this transaction and even re-applied to work there again in August. Now he is facing charges by criminal complaint alleging three violations of the Espionage Act, which can result in up to a life term in prison or the death sentence.
The Department of Justice notes in its press release(Opens in a new window) that a criminal complaint "is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a
Read more on pcmag.com
