Jareh
Sebastian
Dalke
pleaded
guilty
to
six
counts
of
attempting
to
transmit
classified
information.
Dalke
was
arrested
only
months
after
beginning
work
at
the
National
Security
Agency
after
trying
to
sell
classified
information
to
someone
he
believed
was
a
Russian
agent,
but
was
actually
a
law
enforcement
agent.
Earlier
this
week,
Dalke
was
sentenced
for
his
crimes
by
U.S.
District
Judge
Raymond
P.
Moore.
He
asked
Judge
Moore
for
leniency,
citing
a
difficult
childhood,
post
traumatic
stress
disorder,
and
self-sabotage
as
explanations
for
what
he
did.
Judge
Moore
was
having
exactly
none
of
that.
As
reported
by
Law360,
Judge
Moore
utterly
rejected
Dalke’s
request
of
14
years
in
prison
for
his
crimes.
“This
was
blatant,
it
was
brazen,
and
in
my
mind,
it
was
deliberate,
it
was
a
betrayal,”
Judge
Moore
said.
“And
it
was
as
close
to
treasonous
as
you
can
get.”The
judge
said
he
was
only
sentencing
him
to
262
months
in
prison
because
that’s
what
federal
prosecutors
asked
for,
adding
that
he
would
have
been
comfortable
sentencing
him
to
“a
whole
lot
more.”He
characterized
the
262
months
as
“mercy
and
mitigation,”
noting
Dalke’s
cooperation
with
federal
authorities
after
he
was
arrested
in
Denver’s
Union
Station
during
an
attempted
digital
dead
drop.Dalke
had
sought
a
sentence
of
14
years
in
prison,
but
Judge
Moore
was
not
receptive.“Not
only
‘no,’”
Judge
Moore
said,
“Hell
no.”He
added
that
Dalke,
32,
“earned
every
bit
of
262,
and
that’s
what
I’m
going
to
give
you.”
In
rejecting
the
defendant’s
proposed
jail
time
and
imposing
the
harsher
sentence,
the
judge
also
noted
Dalke’s
history
of
lying,
saying,
“I’ve
got
nothing
to
back
it
up
other
than
your
word
and
your
word
is
worth
nothing.”
Julia
Martinez
of
the
U.S.
Attorney’s
Office
for
the
District
of
Colorado
applauded
the
judge’s
decision
saying
it
sends
a
message
that
cases
“will
be
met
with
an
extreme
punishment,
and
it
will
be
resolved
quickly.”
She
also
noted
the
deterrence
effect
of
the
sentence,
saying
it
“will
be
discussed
by
thousands
of
[security]
clearance
holders.”
The
sentiment
was
echoed
by
FBI
Director
Christopher
Wray,
“this
sentence
should
serve
as
a
stark
warning
to
all
those
entrusted
with
protecting
national
defense
information
that
there
are
consequences
to
betraying
that
trust.”
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
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her
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questions,
or
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