In the past few years, more than half a dozen members of the US military have been arrested and charged with passing information to Russia and China.
A US Army soldier serving at Fort Bliss, Texas, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with attempting to share sensitive data about the M1A2 Abrams main battle tank (MBT) with Russia.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced that Taylor Adam Lee, 22, began to establish contact with what he believed to be the Russian Ministry of Defense in May, and first transmitted the classified information in June. Lee, who the DOJ claimed “holds a Top Secret (TS)/Sensitive Compartment Information (SCI) security clearance,” had allegedly shared “export-controlled technical information” about the tank.
“The USA is not happy with me for trying to expose their weaknesses,” Lee reportedly stated in one message ostensibly to the Russian ministry. He added, “At this point I’d even volunteer to assist the Russian federation when I’m there in any way.”
Lee further sought to deliver a piece of the tank’s hardware to a storage facility in El Paso, Texas, and subsequently sent a message to an individual he believed to be working for Russian intelligence, stating “Mission accomplished.”
The information and hardware that Lee sought to provide to the Kremlin may have aided in its war effort, as the US has provided an older model of the M1 Abrams to Ukraine.
“This arrest is an alarming reminder of the serious threat facing our US Army,” said Brigadier General Sean F. Stinchon, the commanding general of Army Counterintelligence Command. “Thanks to the hard work of Army Counterintelligence Command Special Agents and our FBI partners, Soldiers who violate their oath and become insider threats will absolutely be caught and brought to justice, and we will continue to protect Army personnel and safeguard equipment. If anyone on our Army Team sees suspicious activity, you must report it as soon as possible.”
China Is America’s Main Espionage Threat Today
Lee is just the latest US military servicemember to be arrested for sharing classified information. In the past few years, more than half a dozen members of the US military have been arrested and charged with passing information to China.
In June, a former US Army NCO pleaded guilty after attempting to make contact with the Chinese Consulate in Turkey. Cybersecurity and intelligence experts called his “tradecraft” efforts “amateurish.”
Fortunately for US national security, most of the recent attempts by US soldiers to pass on information to adversaries have been amateurish. However, the phenomenon remains worrisome because others could be actively passing information—and have proven better at covering their tracks. The ones that are more successful, after all, are far harder to catch.
A retired Army officer, who went to work as a civilian for the US Air Force, recently pleaded guilty to sharing information about the war in Ukraine on a dating app. In late 2024, Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he was convicted of sharing classified information on Discord, a popular gaming social media app.
Game Forums and Social Media Are Also Problems
Teixeria had claimed he was sharing documents about the war in Ukraine to impress his friends on Discord. Similar incidents of military personnel posting classified information about tanks, military aircraft, and even weapons systems on popular gaming forums have also occurred. There have been multiple accounts of gamers who leaked secret information on the forums for the popular free-to-play War Thunder plane simulation. This was done both to impress other gamers, and to argue that the game designers had gotten information about their planes wrong.
Last year, a gamer posted data about the Eurofighter Typhoon, even as the Hungary-based Gaijin Entertainment, the game’s publisher, had repeatedly warned gamers not to share such information. In past years, secrets related to the F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, Challenger 2 MBT, Leclerc Series 2 MBT, and the Chinese DTC10-125 anti-tank round have been posted on the forums. That has included details from classified manuals and documents not publicly available.
Social media has enabled data to be shared with the world.
Last year, data related to the F-35 Lightning II and F-15 Eagle was posted by the pro-Kremlin military blogger known as “Fighterbomber” on the Telegram social messaging app. The leaked files, including maintenance manuals and other sensitive data, were posted to his channel, which has 500,000 subscribers. It is unknown where that account obtained the information.
The Internet Makes It Easy to Recruit Spies
What has also been noteworthy about the recent leaks of military hardware secrets is the motivation. Intelligence agencies have employed various techniques to recruit individuals to share secrets and engage in espionage activities. The main pillars of “spy recruitment” can be summed up with the acronym “MICE,” which includes Money, Ideology, Coercion/Compromise, and Ego.
The gamers who have posted manuals of tanks and aircraft have increasingly done it to make a point to others, and it would seem that this recent leak of classified materials was also done very much for “ego.”
Those like Lee and some of the individuals spying for China in recent years may be driven by ideology, including a distrust of the United States.
But one should never rule out “money” and “compromise.” Just last month, a Ukrainian military officer was arrested for sharing secrets regarding Kyiv’s American-made F-16s with Russia, including the location of the aircraft. Money is believed to have been the motivator—with a bit of ego thrown in for good measure.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a thirty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
Image: Shutterstock / Karolis Kavolelis.
