A former NSA employee who sold secrets to an FBI agent faces nearly 22 years in prison

A former Colorado National Security Agency employee was sentenced Monday to nearly 22 years in federal prison for trying to sell American secrets to Russia.

In October, 32-year-old Colorado Springs resident Jareh Sebastian Dalke pled guilty to six counts of attempting to communicate national security secrets to a foreign country Federal judges condemned him to 262 months imprisonment.

“This defendant, who had sworn an oath to defend our country, believed he was selling classified national security information to a Russian agent, when in fact, he was outing himself to the FBI,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a news release.

In 2022, Dalke emailed an FBI agent acting as a Russian spy, saying he wanted secrets and change. Dalke said in court filings that he was in debt and saw an opportunity to help balance the planet while meeting his own needs.

He gave extracts of documents to prove his access and readiness to share and offered to sell all the information for $85,000. The documents revealed key US defense capabilities, a country threat assessment, and a US encryption program.

The agent told Dalke to send the documents over a secure link at a Denver rail station in September 2023 to complete the exchange. Dalke left his phone at home, disabled his car's GPS systems, parked by the station, entered, and transferred five documents on his laptop securely. FBI nabbed Dalke shortly after.

Dalke's nearly 22-year prison sentence sends a strong message that national security threats will be punished. The vast network of law enforcement and intelligence organizations relentlessly pursues espionage and illicit activity.