An American soldier has been arrested on fees of making an attempt to share secret details about the US Military’s Abrams tank with Russia, prosecutors stated.
The justice division accused Taylor Adam Lee, an active-duty soldier stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas, of passing an SD card with delicate data to a Russian official.
Mr Lee – who held a high secret safety clearance – has been charged below the Espionage Act. Prosecutors allege he sought to alternate the categorized data in return for Russian citizenship.
“This arrest is an alarming reminder of the intense risk going through our U.S. Military,” Brigadier Normal Sean F Stinchon of Military Counterintelligence Command stated in a press release.
Mr Lee, 22, who was taken into custody on Wednesday morning, appeared in a federal courtroom the identical day. Along with espionage fees, he’s additionally going through fees below the US Arms Export Management Act.
Prosecutors allege Mr Lee met a consultant of the Russian authorities in July, and sought to share US defence data.
Mr Lee allegedly acknowledged, “the USA is just not proud of me for making an attempt to reveal their weaknesses”. “At this level I might even volunteer to help the Russian federation once I’m there in any means.”
He allegedly mentioned acquiring and offering Moscow with a selected piece of {hardware} used contained in the Abrams tank, after which on 31 July allegedly delivered the {hardware} to a storage unit in El Paso, Texas.
The justice division acknowledged that he then despatched a textual content message saying “Mission achieved” to the Russian consultant.
It’s unclear if he’s being represented by an lawyer, in keeping with the BBC’s US companion CBS Information.
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