A former National Security Agency employee who sold secret information to an undercover FBI agent he mistook for a Russian official was sentenced Monday to nearly 22 years in prison, the maximum term sought by US prosecutors.
U.S. District Judge Raymond Moore said he might have sentenced Jareh Sebastian Dalke, 32, to even more time in prison, calling the 262-month sentence “mercy” for what he perceived as a calculated decision to work at the NSA in order to sell national security information.
“This was apparent. It was bold, and I believe it was deliberate. Moore described it as a betrayal, bordering on treason.
Dalke’s counsel had requested that the Army veteran, who pleaded guilty to espionage charges in a plea deal with prosecutors last autumn, be sentenced to 14 years in prison, in part because the information he sold in 2022 did not slip into enemy hands and cause harm.
Assistant federal public defender David Kraut also urged for a lesser sentence, citing Dalke’s severe brain injury, four suicide attempts, and childhood trauma, including seeing domestic violence and substance addiction. According to research, this type of early trauma increases the probability of people participating in harmful behavior in the future.
Dalke later informed Moore that he had PTSD, bipolar disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder and that he was “remorseful and ashamed” about it.
He denied that he was motivated by ideology or money when he agreed to sell the secrets. Dalke further stated that he believed he was communicating with law enforcement but was drawn to the excitement of what he was doing.
Moore questioned Dalke’s statements regarding his ailments because the defense did not produce any expert opinions or medical documents.
According to court filings, Dalke, who had worked at the NSA for approximately a month, told the undercover FBI agent that he wanted to “cause change” after questioning the US’s role in causing global damage, but he also stated that he was $237,000 in debt. He reportedly allegedly stated that he had chosen to collaborate with Russia since his lineage “ties back to your country.”
Dalke was initially paid $16,499 in bitcoin for portions of some documents that he gave to the agent to demonstrate what he had, and then he offered to sell the whole of the information for $85,000, according to the plea agreement. Prosecutors said $85,000 is roughly what he would have made at the NSA in a year.
The agent instructed him to go to Denver’s downtown train station on September 28, 2022, and submit the documents over a secure digital link within a four-hour period. Dalke arrived with his laptop and used the connection to write a thank you message that began and ended in Russian and stated that he looked “forward to our friendship and shared benefit,” according to the plea agreement. FBI officers grabbed him just moments after he used his laptop to upload all of the material.
According to his indictment, Dalke tried to provide Russia with a threat assessment of a third, unnamed country’s military offensive capabilities. It also contains a description of critical US defense capabilities, some of which are relevant to the same foreign government.
Speaking outside court after the hearing, FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek said he couldn’t go into detail about what the documents contained, but Dalke was aware of the risk they posed.
“He knew that the disclosure of those documents was expected to cause exceptionally grave danger to the national security of the United States,” said Michalek, who was accompanied by U.S. Attorney for Colorado Cole Finegan.