An entrance to Fort Bliss, Texas, pictured in 2018. Photo / Getty Images
An entrance to Fort Bliss, Texas, pictured in 2018. Photo / Getty Images
A US soldier has been arrested for attempting to share classified information about vulnerabilities in the US Army’s main battle tank with Russia in exchange for citizenship, the Justice Department has announced.
Taylor Adam Lee, 22, who is stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas, was charged under the Espionage Actand the Arms Export Control Act, according to the arrest warrant.
Prosecutors and the FBI accuse Lee, an active-duty service member with a top-secret security clearance, of attempting to send classified information on the M1A2 Abrams tank to Russia’s Ministry of Defencethrough an intermediary whom Lee allegedly believed to be a Russian intelligence officer. In June, after transmitting the information online, Lee allegedly wrote, “The USA is not happy with me for trying to expose their weaknesses,” adding, “At this point I’d even volunteer to assist the Russian federation when I’m there in any way.”
During an in-person meeting in Julybetween Lee and the man he believed to be a Russian agent, prosecutors allege that Lee turned over documents and information on an SD card. The information provided details on the M1A2 Abrams tanks and an armoured fighting vehicle used by the US military, as well as combat operations, federal authorities said.
“Several of these documents contained controlled technical data that Lee did not have the authorisation to provide,” the Justice Department said in a news release on Wednesday. “Throughout the meeting, Lee stated that the information on the SD card was sensitive and likely classified.”
Lee also discussed sharing “a specific piece of hardware inside the M1A2 Abrams tank” with Russia during and after the July meeting, federal authorities alleged. On July 31, Lee delivered that hardware to a storage unit in El Paso, they said. After doing so, Lee messaged the individual he believed to be a representative of the Russian Government, stating, “Mission accomplished”.
