US Sailor Charged With Passing Military Secrets to Russian National - Court Documents

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd July, 2020) US Navy serviceman Charles Briggs, arrested on charges of passing classified information to a Russian citizen, faces up to 64 years in prison, court documents obtained by Sputnik revealed.

Chief Petty Officer Charles Briggs is accused on six charges, including multiple counts of violating general regulations and making false statements as well as unauthorized distribution of classified information, communicating defense information, obstructing justice and child pornography, according to the court documents.

"The maximum possible punishment is 64 years confinement, dishonorable discharge, reduction to E-1, and total fines and forfeitures," the court documents said on Tuesday.

The court documents said that Briggs "did knowingly and willfully communicate information relating to the national defense to [REDACTED], a Russian national" not entitled to receive the information which Briggs knew could cause harm to US defense capability.

The indictment states that Briggs accessed the email containing classified information from a government computer on or about January 9, 2019, while on duty at Offutt Air Force Base in the state of Nebraska.

Briggs also faces multiple counts of making false official statements on three separate occasions in 2018, including during a security check in April 2018 when he answered "no" to the question whether he had close and long-term relationships with foreign citizens.

Briggs is also charged with violation of a general regulation for failing to report his connections to the Russian individual and also to an Italian national to his superior.

Briggs, a 22-year member of the US armed forces, is currently being held in custody awaiting trial at the Joint Regional Correctional Facility Mid-Atlantic in Chesapeake, Virginia.

The documents say that Briggs will be held in pre-trial confinement, as he has been deemed a possible flight risk.