Ex-NSA techie pleads guilty to selling state secrets to Russia

A former US National Security Agency techie has plead guilty to six counts of violating the Espionage Act after being caught handing classified information to FBI agents he thought were Russian spies.  Jareh Sebastian Dalke will be facing up to life in prison when sentenced in April 2024, though in his plea agreement [PDF] the …

[Anonymous Coward]

Dalke printed the documents he sent to the OCE while employed at the NSA.

“Dalke printed the documents he sent to the OCE while employed at the NSA. A look at historical data on NSA systems made it easy to determine that it was his account alone that printed those four particular documents, the FBI said in its affidavit.”

Let me see if I understand correctly, they've got a machine at the NSA that prints-out “secret” documents :o

[ChoHag]

Re: Dalke printed the documents he sent to the OCE while employed at the NSA.

How else would you provide sensitive information where it's needed? Sneakernet is the securest network.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Dalke printed the documents he sent to the OCE while employed at the NSA.

> How else would you provide sensitive information where it's needed? Sneakernet is the securest network.

Well, once they print-out the secret and walk out the door with it - it's no secret anymore /s

Whispering Grass

[Robert Helpmann??]

Re: Dalke printed the documents he sent to the OCE while employed at the NSA.

Let me see if I understand correctly, they've got a machine at the NSA that prints-out “secret” documents :o

Yes, because sometimes it is necessary to print material that resides on a classified network. As with any other equipment on said networks, those printers are not allowed on unclassified networks.

[elsergiovolador]

Debt

According to Dalke's signed plea deal, he told the OCE he was $237,000 in debt, with $93k soon to be due. Dalke requested $85k in an unnamed cryptocurrency for all the documents in his possession, and promised more in the future.

Seems like blunder during recruitment and onboarding? Why would you hire someone knee deep in debt at [unpleasant organic matter] paid government job with access to valuable intel?

On the other hand a good training material for rookie FBI "Russian spies"...

"questioned [the US's] role in damage to the world in the past and by a mixture of curiosity for secrets and a desire to cause change."

Yup, give intel to a terrorist regime, that will change the world. Da Bolshoy LOL

[DS999]

When I read stories like these

I always wonder if they are some others committing similar crimes without being a total moron who don't get caught. The government isn't likely to announce "some secrets have shown up in Russian / Chinese hands but we have no idea who sold them those secrets or how they managed to access them".

[Anonymous Coward]

and yet a Florida man who had boxes of secret documents in his shower…

…isn’t locked up

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: and yet a Florida man who had boxes of secret documents in his shower…

And the worst thing is: those documents were shown to everyone, maids, various leaders of all countries, all security guards etc ...

So they're pretty much public domain now ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Security Engineer, indeed

I wonder what, exactly, he was hired to do? (By the way, many non-spook-affiliated companies keep logs of who sent what to which printer and needing your badge to actually print it out at the printer.)

[BOFH in Training]

Re: Security Engineer, indeed

I know someone who has very basic computing knowledge (able to use Windows, MS Office, and other business applications) who was offered a job as a IT Security Engineer or Cyber Security Engineer (forgot the exact term).

That person got a better paying job in the end, but I always joked with my friend about how he could have been a IT / Cyber security engineer with no actual related skills.

I understood later that he would have been involved in getting access to authorised people, and presumably removing access to people who left / no longer need access. Both for accessing data / applications as well as door entry and such.

In other words, the titles may not actually give a clear understanding of the job scope.

[Dinanziame]

Re: Security Engineer, indeed

Good point. A number of "security engineers" do nothing else than applying basic checks and give access rights accordingly.