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US Navy nuclear engineer Jonathan Toebbe, who held a top-secret security clearance, and his wife Diana were arrested in West Virginia on Saturday by the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service after the couple allegedly sold drugs. information regarding the design of US nuclear-powered warships. to a person they believed to be a representative of a foreign power but was in fact an undercover FBI agent, ”according to a Justice Department statement.
The Justice Department said Toebbe had access to information on naval nuclear propulsion and sensitive military design elements, including “operating parameters and performance characteristics of reactors in nuclear-powered warships.”
An FBI agent in a criminal complaint for the arrest alleges that Toebbe first sent a package to a foreign government in April 2020 offering to sell the nuclear secrets, and an undercover FBI agent responded several months later via a encrypted email program and corresponded with it. The agent worked to gain Toebbe’s trust before agreeing to sell the information for thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency, according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, the FBI “conducted an operation in the Washington, DC area that involved placing a signal at a location associated (with the foreign government) in an attempt to obtain in good faith with” ALICE “”, the name Toebbe used as alias when composing emails.
During what Toebbe believed to be a “dead drop” or stash that spies use to secretly pass information, the FBI said it arrested Jonathan and Diana on Saturday after Jonathan “placed another SD card” with information classified. at a pre-arranged location in West Virginia. The couple have been charged with violations of the Atomic Energy Act, which prohibits anyone with access to classified information from sharing that information. The complaint claims that the Toebbes attempted to “communicate, transmit and disclose the same to another person with the intent of harming the United States and obtaining a benefit for a foreign nation.”
It is not yet known whether the couple has retained the services of a lawyer.
Build trust
In a confidence-building move during the long correspondence, the FBI arranged to send a signal to Toebbe from a building that houses the diplomats of the unnamed country.
After gaining Toebbe’s trust, the agent tried to convince Toebbe to meet in person, but Toebbe feared he would be caught. The officer suggested using a dead fall at a location of his choosing. In March 2021, Toebbe reportedly wrote, “I’m concerned that using a dead drop location your friend is preparing will make me very vulnerable. If other interested parties are observing the location, I will be unable to detect them.”
Toebbe also said he was concerned about receiving cash payments because serial numbers could be traced, and he was concerned that “tracking devices and other nasty surprises must also be considered,” according to the criminal complaint of the FBI.
In April 2021, Toebbe reportedly wrote, “Is there a physical signal you can make to prove your identity to me? I could plan to visit Washington DC over Memorial Day weekend. I would be just another tourist in the crowd. Perhaps you could put up a signal flag on your roof? Something easily seen from the street, but nothing to arouse the suspicion of an opponent? “
The undercover agent replied, “We will set a signal from our main building observable from the street. This will bring you comfort with a signal displayed from an area inside our property that we control and not a [sic] opponent. If you agree, please confirm. “
Toebbe reportedly suggested using the decentralized cryptocurrency Monero instead because it “gives us both excellent denial.” In an email cited in the complaint, Toebbe reportedly said he would deliver an SD card, containing several hundred pages of technical data. Once he confirmed receipt of the cryptocurrency, Toebbe reportedly wrote, “I’ll give you the passphrase.”
Toebbe also reportedly told the agent that he would never use “the same deposit location twice. I will give you a new Monero address each time. The decryption key will be different each time. No pattern for each to observe. The only electronic fingerprints will be Proton to Proton, so there is less risk that the encrypted traffic will be collected for future analysis by third parties. This part is not perfect. Maybe our friendship will grow , will we change our address periodically? “
In June 2021, Toebbe and his wife traveled to West Virginia where the FBI said Toebbe “had placed an SD card concealed in a half peanut butter sandwich at a pre-arranged location for a ‘dead fall.’ “.
After retrieving the SD card, the undercover agent sent Toebbe a payment of $ 20,000 in cryptocurrency and Toebbe responded with the card’s description key, according to the complaint. The FBI said it “opened the supplied SD card and provided the contents” to a US Navy subject matter expert, who confirmed they had classified information.
A correspondence in progress
The FBI said Toebbe maintained the relationship with the undercover agent, causing another fall to his death in eastern Virginia in August 2021, where the FBI had him under surveillance as he left his home in Annapolis, Maryland, and was on his way to the Fallen Dead.
The complaint stated that “the FBI observed that JONATHAN TOEBBE was serving a neutral point in eastern Virginia. The FBI observed JONATHAN TOEBBE placing an object in the container and removing a written message placed in the container by the FBI.”
The FBI then opened the SD card and provided the content to the US Navy subject matter expert. The US Navy subject matter expert determined that several documents on the SD card contained data. Specifically, the US Navy subject matter expert determined that the document contained schematic designs for the Virginia-class submarine. rapid attack with nuclear-powered cruise missiles, which incorporate the latest technologies in stealth, intelligence gathering and weapons systems, ”the criminal complaint alleged.
In another exchange listed in the complaint, Toebbe explained how he obtained all the classified information, saying, “I have been extremely careful to bring the files I own slowly and naturally into my work routine, so that no one suspects my plan. We received training on warning signs to detect insider threats. We were very careful not to post a single one. I don’t think any of my former colleagues would suspect me, if there was a future investigation. “
He also said: “I considered the possibility of leaving on short notice. If it became necessary, I would be eternally grateful for your help in extracting me and my family. I guess the first step would be a trip. unexpectedly to a safe third country with the intention of meeting your colleagues. We have passports and money set aside for that purpose. He said he hoped such a decision would never be necessary.
Toebbe said he hoped to one day meet and have a drink with his foreign master, unwittingly writing the FBI agent: chance to bump into each other in a cafe, to share a bottle of wine and laugh at the stories of their common exploits. A good thought, but I agree that our mutual need for security may make this impossible. Whether we meet or not[sic], I will always remember your bravery in the service of your country and your commitment to help me. “
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