Act Daily News
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A retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who saved recordsdata with categorised info at his Florida residence is ready to plead responsible in February to 1 depend of illegal retention of nationwide protection info, based on court docket paperwork.
The defendant, Robert Birchum, served within the Air Force for greater than 30 years and beforehand held high secret clearance. According to his plea settlement, he saved a whole lot of recordsdata that contained info marked as high secret, secret or confidential categorised exterior of licensed areas.
In 2017, investigators discovered a thumb drive, two arduous drives and paper paperwork containing categorised info in Birchum’s possession, together with at his residence, court docket paperwork state. Two of the recordsdata on the thumb drive at Birchum’s residence contained info on the National Security Agency’s “methods of collection, and identify targets’ vulnerabilities,” based on the plea.
Act Daily News has reached out to Birchum’s legal professional for remark.
A plea listening to is ready for February 21 in a district court docket in Florida, and he faces a most of 10 years in jail.
The Daily Beast first reported on the plea settlement.
The case involves a detailed as Washington is embroiled in controversy over the dealing with of categorised paperwork by President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence. Two particular counsels are investigating Biden and Trump, and the Justice Department is reviewing the Pence case.
While Birchum had high secret clearance via his numerous positions within the Air Force, together with as an Intelligence Officer, “(t)he defendant’s residence was not a location authorized to store classified information, and the defendant knew as much,” the plea settlement states.
On a tough drive at his residence, investigators discovered 10 recordsdata that had “information marked as Secret,” based on the settlement, in addition to 48 paper paperwork that additionally contained info marked as secret. On the thumb drive recovered from his residence, investigators say they discovered 135 recordsdata marked as containing categorised info.
Separately, in a short lived residence abroad exterior of a chosen delicate compartmented info facility (SCIF), investigators say they discovered one other arduous drive containing 117 recordsdata with categorised nationwide protection info.
According to court docket filings, Birchum retired from the Air Force in 2018. An Air Force spokesperson declined to remark.
Source: www.cnn.com