Ex-NSA employee sentenced to almost 22 years in prison

DENVER >> A former National Security Agency employee from Colorado was sentenced Monday to nearly 22 years in prison in connection with his attempt to sell U.S. secrets to the Russians.

Jareh Sebastian Dalke, 32, of Colorado Springs, pleaded guilty in October to six counts of attempting to transmit national defense information to a foreign government. A federal judge sentenced him to 262 months in prison.

“This defendant, who swore an oath to defend our country, thought he was selling classified national security information to a Russian agent, when in reality he was going to the FBI,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement news item. Edition.

As part of a plea deal, Dalke admitted that he forwarded files to an undercover FBI agent in 2022 with the intent to harm the United States and benefit Russia, according to the agreement.

That year, he used an encrypted email account to send classified documents to the undercover agent, believing he was a Russian official, authorities said. He thought he would receive $85,000 for the deed.

Dalke then arranged to transfer additional information to the alleged agent at Union Station in Denver.

“This sentence should serve as a stark warning to all those charged with protecting national defense information that there are consequences for violating that trust,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in the press release.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.