US Air Force veteran charged with disclosing classified information on US military aircraft and weapons
Seal of the US Department of Justice before a news conference in Washington
By Zachary Cohen and Holmes Lybrand, CNN
(CNN) — A US Air Force veteran has been arrested and charged for allegedly disclosing classified information related to American military aircraft and weapons to unauthorized individuals, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
Paul J. Freeman was charged with unauthorized possession and transmission of classified national defense information by a grand jury in Florida on Tuesday, according to court records.
Freeman transmitted information related to “vulnerabilities” of Air Force aircraft and related to weapon systems on multiple occasions between November 2020 and March 2021, prosecutors allege.
CNN was not immediately able to identify an attorney for Freeman. CNN has reached out the Pentagon.
“If convicted, Freeman faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each of the nine counts in the indictment,” the Justice Department said in a news release, noting that a detention hearing has been set for July 1.
The Air Force Office of Special Investigations and FBI are investigating the case.
CNN previously reported that the Pentagon increased its security screenings following a massive leak of classified documents by a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard last year that exposed sensitive information online.
While Freeman’s alleged disclosures predate the implementation of those new security screenings, his arrest comes as the Pentagon has continued to grapple with the issue of classified leaks in the time since.
The Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) conducts routine screenings of employees coming in or out of the Pentagon for classified information, but the number and frequency of these screenings increased after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a review of procedures around the handling of sensitive and classified material last year following a massive leak of sensitive documents by Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.
Teixeira pleaded guilty to all six counts he faced under the Espionage Act earlier this year.
The-CNN-Wire
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