On August 6, the US Department of Justice said it had arrested military soldier Taylor Adam Lee, 22, serving at Fort Bliss, Texas, on charges of trying to transfer sensitive information related to the M1A2 Abrams main battle tank to Russia.
According to the indictment in the Western Texas Federal Court, Lee was prosecuted for two crimes including seeking to communicate defense information and exporting controlled technical data without a license. The prosecutor accused Lee, who owns access to classified information, of trying to exchange the data to gain Russian citizenship.
Investigators said that last month, Lee gave a memory card containing documents and information about the activities and weaknesses of M1A2 Abrams and some other US military activities to a person he believed was a Russian intelligence officer. Some documents are marked as Conscious but Controlled Information (CUI) and Lee is not allowed to provide it.
The FBI said the arrest was a warning to anyone who intended to betray the United States, especially soldiers who had pledged to protect the country. Former General Sean Stinchon, Commander of the US Army counter-inspector's Command, stressed that any soldiers who violate their oath will be discovered and brought to justice, while the force will continue to protect the military's personnel and equipment.
Lee has not yet given a confession, and a defense attorney has not been appointed. Authorities continue to investigate the incident to determine the extent of information leakage and Russia's access to the data.
