A counter-terrorism analyst for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency was arrested Wednesday for leaking top secret information to two reporters, one with whom he was romantically involved.
According to court documents, the worker, Henry Kyle Frese, 30, leaked details of a foreign country’s weapons systems and other sensitive national security information to the reporters in 2018 and this year.
Frese “held a top-secret clearance at the DIA, where he began as a contractor in January 2017, and eventually became a full-time employee,” CNBC reported.
His Twitterfeed shows him to be a rabid anti-Trumper who supports the deep state “whistleblower.” In a number of recent tweets and retweets, Frese criticized the New York Times for revealing too many details about the anti-Trump complainant.
https://twitter.com/HKFrese/status/1177285450005962752?s=20
Frese also blasted the president’s decision to pull troops out of Syria.
https://twitter.com/HKFrese/status/1181146251871637505?s=20
More of Frese’s “Resistance” tweets can be viewed at Ace of Spades HQ.
According to the indictment, the first journalist sent Frese a direct message on Twitter asking if he would talk to another reporter after he had accessed one of the intelligence reports.
“Frese stated that he was ‘down’ to help Journalist 2 if it helped Journalist 1 because he wanted to see Journalist 1 ‘progress.’ ”
The identities of the reporters and their employers were not disclosed by authorities, but multiple media reports are indicating that one of the journalists is NBC National Security reporter Amanda Macias:
Can confirm based on public records and information contained in the court records: The journalist defense employee Henry K. Frese is accused of leaking classified information to is @amanda_m_macias, a CNBC national security reporter. The affiliated news organization is NBC News. https://t.co/UdWYab0VlD
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) October 9, 2019
According to the criminal indictment, “that reporter ended up writing at least eight articles based on at least five compromised intelligence reports leaked by Frese.
Frese actually re-tweeted a link to an article the reporter wrote about China’s deployment of a missile system in the Spratly Islands, based on information he had allegedly leaked to her.
Here’s another tweet that deals with a foreign country’s weapons systems.
As noted by AoSHQ, Macias did not attempt to hide her relationship to Frese. In fact, she mentioned him frequently on Twitter.
They’ve been tweeting at each other since at least 2014.
And returned the favor– retweeting many of her stories. Including the one he leaked to her about.
“Frese was caught red-handed disclosing sensitive national security information for personal gain,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers.
According to the indictment, the Feds caught Frese on a cell phone call transmitting national defense information to the second reporter on Sept. 24, 2019.
The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway noted on Twitter that the brazen nature of the Frese’s behavior denotes “a national security culture of politicized leaking.”
Review of arrested leaker's social media shows, in addition to extreme anti-Trump views, confidence there'd be no repercussions for leaking. He freely and openly engages with recipient of stolen information. Our natsec culture of politicized leaking is worrisome.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) October 9, 2019
“The unauthorized disclosure of TOP SECRET information could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave harm to the national security of the United States,” the Justice Department said in a press release announcing Frese’s indictment in U.S District Court in Virginia.
“Henry Kyle Frese was entrusted with TOP SECRET information related to the national defense of our country,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
“Frese allegedly violated that trust, the oath he swore to uphold, and is charged with engaging in dastardly and felonious conduct at the expense of our country,” Terwilliger said.
“This indictment should serve as a clear reminder to all of those similarly entrusted with National Defense Information that unilaterally disclosing such information for personal gain, or that of others, is not selfless or heroic, it is criminal.”
Frese is facing a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted of each of the two counts of willful transmission of national defense information.
Macias has reportedly been suspended by CNBC.
#BREAKING: Source at NBC News with knowledge of matter says @amanda_m_macias has been suspended following arrest of former love interest and purported source Henry Frese, a defense intelligence analyst accused of leaking to her. Suspension “procedural,” not discipliary.
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) October 9, 2019