Ex-NSA Employee Gets 22 Years for Espionage

A former NSA employee has been sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in prison for attempting espionage on behalf of a foreign state.

FBI Director Christopher Wray stated that this sentence should serve as a stern warning to all those entrusted with safeguarding national defense information about the repercussions of betrayal.

Jareh Sebastian Dalke, 32, from Colorado Springs, worked as an information systems security designer at the NSA from June 6 to July 1, 2022, during which he had access to sensitive information.

Despite his brief tenure at the agency, between August and September of the same year, Dalke established contact with someone he believed to be an agent of a foreign government. In reality, this was an undercover FBI agent.

To demonstrate his “legitimate access and willingness to share,” Dalke sent the agent excerpts from three classified national defense documents he obtained during his employment, using an encrypted email account.

Dalke demanded $85,000 in exchange for handing over all the files he possessed, claiming that the information would be valuable to the buyer, and promised to deliver more documents after returning to Washington.

Dalke was arrested on September 28, 2022, shortly after transferring five files to the supposed spy at Denver’s Union Station using a laptop. The accused pleaded guilty in October 2023.

The U.S. Department of Justice noted that as part of the plea agreement, Dalke admitted he knowingly transferred files to an undercover FBI employee with the intention and awareness that the information would be used to harm the United States and benefit a foreign state.