The Russian 'spy', the NSA mole and the FBI sting that got him

Jareh Sebastian Dalke disabled the location tracking system on his car then drove north from his home in Colorado Springs to Denver's Union Station. He made sure to leave without his phone.

The 31-year-old former US National Security Agency (NSA) employee parked several blocks away, walking to the train station with a laptop, a memory card, a gun and a note with handwritten instructions for his clandestine mission.

Dalke had spent several months communicating via email and transmitting top secret, classified information to someone he believed was a Russian foreign agent.

He was preparing to send more files after receiving instructions on how to access a secure connection at the station.

On the day of his mission, in September 2022, Dalke opened his laptop and emailed five files. One was a letter written in Russian, according to court documents.