A person who used to work for the US National Security Agency has been sentenced to almost 22 years in prison, as requested by the government after he sold secret information to someone he thought was a Russian official but was actually an undercover FBI agent.
The judge said he could have given Jareh Sebastian Dalke an even longer prison sentence, but chose to be merciful by giving a 262-month sentence. He believed Dalke deliberately took a job at the NSA to sell national security secrets.
“This was obvious. ” It was bold and I think it was done on purpose. Moore said it was like treason, a big betrayal.
Dalke’s lawyers requested that the Army veteran, who admitted to spying and made a deal with prosecutors, be given a 14-year prison sentence. They said this because the information he shared didn’t end up with the enemy and didn’t cause any harm. Public defender David Kraut said Dalke should get a lighter punishment because he had a brain injury, tried to kill himself four times, and had a rough childhood with domestic violence and drug abuse. Studies have found that experiencing certain traumas as a child makes it more likely for people to act recklessly in the future, he said.
Later, Dalke told Moore that he felt sorry and embarrassed. He also said that he had PTSD, bipolar disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder.
He said he wasn’t motivated by beliefs or money when he agreed to sell the secrets. Dalke thought he might be talking to the police, but he was still excited about what he was doing.
But Moore did not believe Dalke’s claims about his health because there were no expert opinions or hospital records provided by the defense.
Based on papers from the court, Dalke was at the NSA for about a month. He talked to an undercover FBI agent and said he wanted to “cause change” because he was worried about the United States causing harm to the world. He also mentioned that he owed $237,000. He apparently said he chose to work with Russia because his ancestors were from there.
Dalke first got $16,499 in digital money for parts of the documents he had. Then he wanted to sell the rest of the information for $85,000.
The agent told him to go to the Denver train station on Sept. 1stOn March 28, 2022, send the papers using a safe online link within a four-hour time frame. Dalke came with his laptop and used the Wi-Fi to send a thank you letter in Russian. In the letter, he said he was looking forward to being friends and working together, as agreed in the plea deal. Shortly after he used his laptop to move all the files, FBI agents took him into custody.
As per the charges, Dalke tried to share information with Russia about the military strength of another country. It also has details about important US defense abilities, some of which are related to the foreign country.