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.”

This sparsely populated red state quietly climbed to the top of America’s financial rankings

Most dramatic moments from Rep Mike Lawler’s fiery debate against Dem Cait Conley in battle for House control

San Jose girl, 8, dies after living in cockroach-infested home as mother, stepfather face charges

Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt opens up about Trump, motherhood

Pentagon sends hundreds of Army troops to Latin America for training as drug-trafficking campaign expands

Trump announces advanced weapons testing ‘super range’ in Montana

MS NOW Falsely Reports Kash Patel Is in Russia – Gets Brutally Fact-Checked Directly by the FBI

Tension erupts during House midterm debate as Lawler fact-checks New York Democrat opponent on immigration

‘Serial Killer’ Concerns Grip Michigan’s Capital as Similarities Are Noted in 5 Recent Deaths

Copper theft suspect’s desperate escape caught on bodycam video before deputies discover what he left behind

Trump torches Democrats at Arizona rally, warns they will ‘destroy our country’ ahead of midterms

Will Trump’s contempt for Zelensky force Ukraine to choose between an election and survival?

FBI Says Saudi OpenAI Employee Bugged Company to Spy on Top Executives

Federal agents seize phone of Rep. Ilhan Omar in raid tied to immigration fraud probe

DOJ threatens emergency legal action against California over suspected noncitizen voters

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.

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.”