Former NSA employee pleads guilty to attempted espionage

Listen to this article

Jareh Sebastian Dalke, 31, of Colorado Springs, pleaded guilty Monday to six counts of attempting to transmit classified National Defense Information (NDI) to an agent of the Russian Federation (Russia).

According to court documents, from June 6, 2022, to July 1, 2022, Dalke was an employee of the National Security Agency (NSA) where he served as an Information Systems Security Designer.

Dalke admitted that between August and September 2022, in order to demonstrate both his “legitimate access and willingness to share,” he used an encrypted email account to transmit excerpts of three classified documents to an individual he believed to be a Russian agent.

However, in reality, the person was an FBI online covert employee. All three documents from which the excerpts were taken contain NDI, are classified as Top Secret//Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) and were obtained by Dalke during his employment with the NSA, Justice Department officials said.

On or about Aug. 26, 2022, Dalke requested $85,000 in return for all the information in his possession, authorities said. Dalke claimed the information would be of value to Russia and told the FBI online covert employee that he would share more information in the future, once he returned to the Washington, D.C., area.

According to Justice Department officials, Dalke subsequently arranged to transfer additional classified information in his possession to the purported Russian agent at Union Station in downtown Denver. Using a laptop computer and the instructions provided by the FBI online covert employee, Dalke transferred five files, four of which contain Top Secret NDI. The other file was a letter, which begins (in Russian and Cyrillic characters) “My friends!” and states, in part, “I 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.”

Dalke was arrested by the FBI Sept. 28, immediately after he transmitted the files.

Federal agents recovered several items on his person, including a firearm, an SD card, and a post-it note with detailed instructions on how to access the classified documents.

He is represented by attorney David Kraut, according to court documents.

As part of his plea agreement obtained by the Wisconsin Law Journal, Dalke admitted he willfully transmitted files to the FBI online covert employee with the intent and reason to believe the information would be used to injure the United States and to benefit Russia.

As a part of the agreement Dalke is not allowed to have contact with any foreign governments or agents and waived the right to further discovery.

Military Service and Law Enforcement

According to court documents, Dalke was a former member of the U.S. Army, previously volunteered with the Colorado Rangers, a law enforcement group and also incurred financial debt exceeding $237,000.

Like all other NSA employees, Dalke received training at NSA to protect classified materials from unauthorized disclosure.

“Dalke was advised that unauthorized disclosure of Top Secret information reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States,” and result in criminal prosecution, court documents state.

Dalke faces a maximum penalty of up to life in prison.

Sentencing is scheduled for April 26, 2024.

A U.S. district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan for the District of Colorado and Executive Assistant Director Larissa L. Knapp of the FBI’s National Security Branch made the announcement.

The FBI Washington and Denver Field Offices are investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julia K. Martinez and Jena R. Neuscheler for the District of Colorado and Trial Attorneys Christina A. Clark and Adam L. Small of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.