US Army soldier charged with attempting to give tank secrets to Russia

A US Army soldier was arrested Wednesday on charges of attempting to transmit national defense information to Russia, the FBI announced.

Taylor Adam Lee, 22, an active-duty service member stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, was taken into custody for allegedly trying to provide classified military data to a person he believed was a Russian intelligence officer.

“The FBI’s investigation revealed Taylor (Adam) Lee allegedly attempted to provide classified military information on US tank vulnerabilities to a person he believed to be a Russian intelligence officer in exchange for Russian citizenship,” said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.

Lee, who holds a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) clearance, is accused of sending technical details about the M1A2 Abrams tank online in June and later attempting to deliver sensitive information on tank vulnerabilities in July.

According to federal prosecutors, Lee also delivered what appeared to be a piece of tank hardware to a storage unit in El Paso, Texas, and messaged the recipient, “Mission accomplished.”

He allegedly stated online, “The USA is not happy with me for trying to expose their weaknesses,” and expressed willingness to assist the Russian Federation.

The Justice Department said the information Lee attempted to share could have been valuable to Russia, particularly because the US has provided a version of the Abrams tank to Ukraine.

Lee is charged with violating the Espionage Act and attempting to export controlled technical data without a license, a violation of the Arms Export Control Act. Prosecutors have requested he be held without bond.

He made his initial appearance in federal court on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if he had retained legal counsel.