A former National Security Agency employee in Colorado has been charged with violating the Espionage Act for allegedly trying to send classified national defense information to a foreign government.
Federal prosecutors don’t identify the government in question, though court records say the suspect — Jareh Sebastian Dalke, 30, of Colorado Springs — was trying to make contact with Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service.
Dalke, who holds certification to work as a law enforcement officer in Colorado, made his initial appearance Thursday afternoon in federal court in Denver. He remains in custody and has a detention hearing scheduled for Monday.
He has been charged with three violations of the Espionage Act, which carries a potential death sentence.
Dalke worked for the NSA as an information systems security designer from June 6 to July 1, 2022, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado.
Between August and September, Dalke allegedly used an “encrypted email account to transmit excerpts of three classified documents he had obtained during his employment” to someone he believed was working for a foreign government. The contact was, in reality, an undercover FBI agent.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Dalke said that he had reached out through “multiple published channels to gain a response,” including by submitting information to the SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence agency.
“Dalke subsequently arranged to transfer additional classified information in his possession to the undercover FBI agent at a location in Denver,” the release said.
He was arrested by the FBI on Wednesday when he arrived at the specified location — Union Station in downtown Denver.
Prior to the meeting, Dalke, who refused to travel to Washington, D.C., had scouted other locations for the meeting, including the Park Meadows Mall in Lone Tree, the Cherry Creek Mall in Denver and the Ikea store in Centennial, according to the affidavit.
On July 29, Dalke, by encrypted email, allegedly told the undercover agent that “he had taken highly sensitive information relating to foreign targeting of U.S. systems, and information on U.S. cyber operations, among other topics,” the news release said.
Dalke allegedly requested compensation in cryptocurrency in exchange for the incriminating information he possessed, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Dalke allegedly transmitted excerpts of three classified documents to the undercover FBI agent. In exchange, the undercover agent provided the requested cryptocurrency.
Dalke resigned from the NSA on June 28, stating that he needed to take a leave because of a “family illness” and that he needed nine months off, according to the affidavit. In communications with the undercover agent, Dalke claimed to still be currently employed by the NSA.
According to the affidavit and state records, Dalke is a state-certified Colorado law enforcement officer who has served with the Colorado Rangers, a volunteer organization that provides reserve police officers to agencies statewide.
Dalke served in the U.S. Army from about 2015 to 2018 as a private first-class with “secret security clearance,” according to court documents. In 2017, he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, which was granted in March 2018. He had claimed about $32,000 in student loan debt and about $51,000 additional debt, mostly credit card debt. At the time of the bankruptcy, he claimed about $8,000 in total assets.
According to the affidavit, Dalke told the undercover agent that he was $237,000 in debt and that $93,000 of the amount was “coming due very soon.” He allegedly requested $85,000 in payment for all the “information currently in his possession.”
As part of the payments for information leading up to the meeting in Denver, Dalke had received about $4,500 on Aug. 29 and about $11,400 on Sept. 5, the affidavit said. He converted cryptocurrency payments into U.S. cash, withdrew the amount and deposited it into a bank account.
Dalke claims on his resume to possess elementary proficiency in Russian and Spanish language. He expressed disillusionment with the United States and the government as part of his exchanges with the undercover agent, according to the affidavit.
“This country it is not as great as it thinks it once was,” Dalke told the FBI operative, according to the affidavit. “It is all about the businesses and their money, not anything about the people or those that serve it to include the military.”
He also told the undercover operative, according to the court document, that he “recently learned that my heritage ties back to your country, which is part of why I have come to you as opposed to others.”
The affidavit identifies the foreign power Dalke believed he was communicating with as “a country with many interests that are adverse to the United States.”
Staff writers Sam Tabachnik and Elise Schmelzer contributed to this report.
