32-year-old information systems security developer National security agencies Jareh Sebastian Dahlke was sentenced to 22 years in prison for trying to sell «to a Russian spy» classified information.
The same «Russian spy» turned out to be an FBI agent, tells Gizmodo.
Work in the He started working for the National Security Agency in 2022.
The National Security Agency is engaged in cryptographic intelligence. It is a part of the US Department of Defense and is responsible for collecting and analyzing foreign intelligence information and protecting US government information systems and computer networks.
In the same year, he was contacted by a «Russian spy». According to the Ministry of Justice, on August 26, 2022, Dalke asked for $85 thousand for classified information.
Dalke sent fragments of documents via encrypted email. After that, he asked to send him the crypto — via the Kraken crypto exchange and his real name.
He also printed out three secret documents from his work account that he was going to pass on. Of course, his real name could also be seen in the internal system of the National Security Agency. This made it easy to identify him.
The specialist pleaded guilty and said that he had large debts. Court documents showed that Dalke declared himself bankrupt back in 2017. Back then, he was guilty of about $90 thousand to various lenders, including $30 thousand in student loans.
As a rule, high security clearances are not issued to people with large debts. This makes them more prone to risky behavior.
But given the fact that last year the average American had $21,800 in personal debt, excluding mortgages, it may become increasingly difficult to find workers for such specific tasks
But it’s probably not just about the money. Dahlke admitted in court that he had Russians in his family. And he became interested in working for the intelligence services because of his «interest in secrets and his desire to change something».