The arrested 41-year-old American officer was charged under sections 1 and 3 of the UK National Security Act 2023 for disclosing confidential information and aiding foreign intelligence, and searches are under way at two addresses linked to him, The Moscow Times reports.
British police and intelligence services detained him during a joint operation with their American counterparts. According to NBC News, he served in NATO’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, whose command structures are located near Gloucester in western England.
A SOFX source describes the detainee as a field-grade officer, meaning a major, lieutenant colonel, or colonel. FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau will not tolerate breaches of the U.S. oath and actions that endanger the national security of the United States and its partners.
The head of the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Command, Brigadier General Sean Stinchon, urged Western military personnel to remain maximally vigilant. He said the alleged conduct of a senior serviceman entrusted with confidential information shows that insider threats are real.
The Allied Rapid Reaction Corps is one of NATO’s key formations, and in 2020 its headquarters became the first in the alliance to be certified as combat-ready after the Cold War. The structure in the Ainsworth suburb of Gloucester includes elite units of the British Army and representatives of other NATO countries, and foreigners make up about 40% of the base’s permanent staff.
Since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, Europe has seen a rise in espionage scandals with a Russian trail, and a number of governments have expelled dozens of staff from Russian diplomatic missions from their countries on suspicion of working undercover for the GRU, SVR, or FSB.
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