Intelligence Employee Leaked Top Secret Information to Reporter With Whom He Was Romantically Involved, Feds Say

An employee for the Defense Intelligence Agency was arrested Wednesday on accusations that he disclosed classified information to two journalists, one of whom he had a romantic relationship with, the Justice Department said.

Henry Kyle Frese, 30, of Alexandria, was charged with two counts of willful transmission of national defense information, each carrying a maximum of 10 years imprisonment.

Federal prosecutors say Frese, whose government security clearance allowed him access to top secret and sensitive information, accessed multiple classified intelligence reports and leaked information about a foreign country’s weapons systems to a journalist. Authorities say some of the reports Frese accessed were unrelated to his job duties.

“Frese was caught red-handed disclosing sensitive national security information for personal gain,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said in a statement. “Frese betrayed the trust placed in him by the American people – a betrayal that risked harming the national security of this country.”

Concertgoer dies after apparent fall from upper level at Madison Square Garden

‘The Era of Deportations Has Begun’: European Parliament Passes Toughest Immigration Policy in Decades

Multiple hikers dead amid scorching Grand Canyon temperatures

Mark Levin blasts Trump administration over Israel: ‘Stop trashing, smearing, bullying’ ally

Trump’s Iran gamble divides GOP hawks and ‘America First’ conservatives over what victory looks like

College sports sees pivotal moment as Senate looks to move legislation on NIL, transfers across goal line

New Report Says Major School System Hid Admissions Data Defying Supreme Court

Perverted: Meal Kit Company Runs Gross Pride Month Ad, Offering Recipes to Aid Vile Sex Act

Trump’s DOJ Just Did What Decades of Speeches Never Could

FAA investigates after incoming plane executes go-around due to aircraft leaving from intersecting runway

Responders put out explosive blaze at fireworks stand in Oklahoma

Obama Center visitors say project symbolic of ‘Black excellence,’ claim scandal-free legacy while Trump ripped

Trump administration probe could upend widely used transgender youth treatment guidelines

Chinese AI models raise ‘sleeper agent’ fears after report finds more vulnerable code for US users

Angel Dads face another Father’s Day without children killed by illegal immigrants: ‘She should be graduating’

The unauthorized disclosures to the two reporters happened in 2018 and 2019. Prior to that, from August 2017 to August 2018, Frese and one of the reporters lived together and appeared to have been involved in a romantic relationship, authorities say. They did not name the two journalists involved and did not say what their media affiliations were.

See also Trump arrives for UFC fight

In April 2018, after Frese accessed one of the intelligence reports, the journalist asked if he’d be willing to speak with another reporter, prosecutors say. Frese then said he was “down” to help the second journalist — a colleague at an affiliated but different news outlet, authorities say.

The journalist whom authorities believe had a relationship with Frese published six articles related to information that Frese leaked, authorities say.

Federal authorities said Frese was “captured” last month on court-authorized surveillance of his cell phone orally transmitting classified national defense information to the second journalist

“Henry Kyle Frese was entrusted with top secret information related to the national defense of our country,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney in Alexandria, Va. “Frese allegedly violated that trust, the oath he swore to uphold, and is charged with engaging in dastardly and felonious conduct at the expense of our country. This indictment should serve as a clear reminder to all of those similarly entrusted with National Defense Information that unilaterally disclosing such information for personal gain, or that of others, is not selfless or heroic, it is criminal.”