Greed strikes again. This time a senior US military official with top secret clearance has apparently betrayed his country.
From Dark Reading:
According to a Department of Justice announcement, officials have charged James Wilbur Fondren Jr., deputy director for the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) Washington Liaison Office, with espionage conspiracy for providing classified information to an agent of a foreign government. Fondren sold information to a Taiwanese-American man in the form of “opinion papers” that included classified DoD data via an at-home consulting business he ran on the side, according to the affidavit filed this week.
This classic case of espionage also highlights the dangers of the insider threat: Fondren had both a classified DoD computer as well as an unclassified one on his desk.
The odd part is that he will only face a possible 5 year sentence and a fine. Seems a tad light for selling out your country.
Five years seems about right though for leaking sanitized bits of threat data to reporters though 😉