A 22-year-old U.S. Army soldier stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, has been charged with trying to hand over sensitive military information — including technical details on America’s main battle tank — to someone he believed was a Russian intelligence officer, in exchange for Russian citizenship.
The Justice Department says Taylor Adam Lee, who held a Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information clearance, was arrested Wednesday and now faces charges of attempted transmission of national defense information to a foreign adversary and attempted export of controlled technical data without a license.
Federal prosecutors allege that in June, Lee began sharing details online about the M1A2 Abrams tank and other armored vehicles, telling his contact, “the USA is not happy with me for trying to expose their weaknesses,” and offering to “volunteer to assist the Russian Federation… in any way” if he could move there.
In July, Lee allegedly met with someone he believed was a Russian government representative and handed over an SD card containing documents on the Abrams, another armored vehicle, and combat operations.
Some of the material contained Controlled Unclassified Information with official banner warnings; prosecutors say Lee acknowledged the content was “sensitive and likely classified.”
He also allegedly discussed securing a specific piece of Abrams tank hardware for the Russians. On July 31, authorities say, he placed what he claimed was the component into a storage unit in El Paso, then messaged his contact: “Mission accomplished.”
“This arrest is an alarming reminder of the serious threat facing our U.S. Army,” said Brig. Gen. Sean F. Stinchon, who leads Army Counterintelligence Command.
FBI counterintelligence chief Roman Rozhavsky added, “The FBI and our partners will do everything in our power to protect Americans and safeguard classified information.”
Lee’s arrest came the same day as a separate incident at Fort Stewart, Georgia, where Sgt. Quornelius Radford, 28, allegedly shot five fellow soldiers in the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team area. All were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, and Radford is now in custody.
