The Russian 'spy', the NSA mole and the FBI sting that got him
BBC NewsApr 30
Former NSA Employee Sentenced for Attempting to Sell Russia Secrets
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The Facts
The US Dept. of Justice announced on Monday that a former National Security Agency (NSA) employee was sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison for selling classified National Defense Information (NDI) to someone he believed to be a Russian agent.
Jareh Dalke, an Army veteran from Colorado Springs, worked at the NSA for just a few weeks, and court documents say he offered to sell top secret documents to a Russian agent for $85K. However, he was actually communicating with an FBI posing as a Russian operative.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
US intelligence remains one step ahead of adversaries at home and abroad, and Jareh Dalke is the latest example of Western vigilance. The FBI had everything in place to set up the suspicious NSA employee, and an undercover agent was able to successfully trap and arrest him. Russian espionage has long threatened Western security, and intelligence agencies continue to not let their guards down, especially when it comes to counterintelligence. This arrest was especially important with the Ukraine-Russia war still raging.
Establishment-critical narrative
The West can never be taken seriously whenever it pontificates about liberties and threats from foreign adversaries. While the US spies on its own citizens and agitates conflict around the world, it continues to play the victim and demonize countries like Russia and China. Meanwhile, award-winning journalist Julian Assange continues to face abuse from many Western governments. The hypocrisy knows no bounds, and the US is the last country to talk about threats of espionage.
Nerd narrative
There is a 10% chance that there will be a US-Russia war before 2050, according to the Metaculus prediction community.