Former counter-terrorism analyst with the US Defence Intelligence Agency Henry Kyle Frese was arrested by the Virginia state prosecutor’s office on charges of passing classified information to reporters. This was reported in the indictment, which was published by the US Department of Justice.
Among other things, the leaked materials contained five intelligence reports and were related to the weapon systems of a foreign country. It is noted that the information provided was “scattered in nature” and was used in at least eight news articles.
Two cases of data transfer are mentioned - in 2018 and 2019. 30-year-old Frese is said to have had a “romantic relationship” with one of the journalists who had obtained the secret information.
Frese “was caught red-handed disclosing sensitive national security information for personal gain”, the Department of Justice said in a statement. “The unauthorised disclosure of top secret information could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave harm to the national security of the United States.”
The prosecutor's office believes that the journalist with whom Frese lived together asked him to help his colleague. He needed information on weapons systems for his article. Frese supposedly agreed, but demanded that in return his girlfriend receive a promotion at work.
The reporters aren’t named in the indictment against the alleged leaker, however, but The Wall Street Journal identified them as CNBC reporter Amanda Macias and NBC reporter Courtney Kube.
Frieze was arrested on Wednesday morning when he arrived at work.
