WASHINGTON – A man who worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to leaking classified intelligence information to two reporters.
Henry Kyle Frese, 31, of Alexandria, Va., was a counterterrorism analyst from February 2018 to October 2019 and held top-secret security clearance.
Between the spring and summer of 2018, a reporter published eight articles containing classified information related to the capabilities of certain foreign countries’ weapons systems, according to court documents cited in a press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
These articles contained information from five classified intelligence reports made available to appropriately cleared recipients in the first half of 2018.
The topic of all of the reports was outside the scope of Frese’s job duties as an analyst covering counterterrorism, the DOJ said. The reporter’s articles contained information derived from the classified intelligence reports, indicating that it had been illegally disclosed and risked damaging national security, Fox News reported.
Moreover, Frese and the reporter lived together from January 2018 to November 2018, according to court documents. It was around April 2018, the roommate-reporter introduced Frese to another journalist, whom he began texting and speaking with by telephone, according to the DOJ.
Furthermore, between mid-2018 and late September 2019, Frese orally transmitted classified information to the first reporter on at least 16 separate occasions, the Justice Department said.
Frese reportedly knew the information was classified at top-secret levels because the intelligence documents from which he had learned the information had visible markings indicating their classified level, Fox reported. The documents he accessed were also stored on secure, classified government information systems, according to the DOJ.
The investigation revealed that Frese conducted searches on classified government systems no fewer than 30 times during 2018. The information sought had been discussed with both reporters.
The now ex-DIA employe also conducted specific search requests for information in 2018 and 2019.
“Frese violated the trust placed in him by the American people when he disclosed sensitive national security information for personal gain,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers. “He alerted our country’s adversaries to sensitive national defense information, putting the nation’s security at risk.”
Frese pleaded guilty to the willful transmission of top-secret national defense information. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison when sentenced in June.