US Counterterror Analyst Pleads Guilty To Leaking Classified Information - Justice Dept.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2020) A US counterterrorism analyst with top secret clearance has admitted leaking five classified intelligence reports to two journalists, the Justice Department said in a press release.

"An employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) pleaded guilty today to charges related to his disclosure of classified national defense information (NDI) to two journalists in 2018 and 2019," the release said on Thursday.

Henry Kyle Frese, 31, of Alexandria, Virginia, in his role as a counterterrorism analysis disclosed the sensitive security information "for personal gain," the release said.

"He alerted our country's adversaries to sensitive national defense information, putting the nation's security at risk," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said in the release.

In the spring and summer of 2018, a news outlet published eight articles, all authored by the same journalist that contained classified intelligence from five intelligence reports on foreign countries' weapons systems supplied by Frese that caused grave damage to national security, the Justice Department said.