A former National Security Agency employee pleaded guilty on Monday to attempting to sell classified documents to a person he believed was a Russian agent — but who was actually an undercover FBI employee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jareh Dalke, 31, pleaded to six counts of attempting to transmit national defense information to a foreign government, admitting that in August and September of 2022 he sought to sell copies of three classified documents containing information marked top secret-SCI (for sensitive compartmented information) to a person who identified themselves as an agent from Russia, according to plea documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that person was actually an online covert employee working with the FBI, the plea agreement shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dalke, an Army veteran living in Colorado, began working as a civilian employee at the NSA in 2022, according to prosecutors. He first shared excerpts of three classified documents with the undercover agent in August 2022 as a “small sample [of] what is possible” and received large sums of cryptocurrency as payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There is an opportunity to help balance scales of the world while also tending to my own needs,” he wrote at one point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He later requested $85,000 for all of his information, which he claimed would be of value to Russia, according to his plea deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He agreed to transfer more classified material at a meeting at Union Station in downtown Denver and sent five files containing top secret information, the plea agreement shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“My friends!\u201d he wrote in a letter accompanying the documents, according to the plea filing. \u201cI am very happy to finally provide this information to you. … 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Agents immediately placed him under arrest after he transmitted the data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dalke will be sentenced on April 26, 2024, prosecutors said. Under the terms of his deal, if satisfied, the government will ask for a sentence of no more than 21 years and 10 months in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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