Henry Kyle (Keenan) Frese (born October 27, 1988) is a former employee at the

Defense Intelligence Agency The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) specializing in military intelligence. A component of the Department of Defense and the United States In ...

, between February 2018 and October 2019, during which time he was assigned to a "Sensitive Compartment Information Facility" in Virginia.

Federal investigation

Arrest

On October 9, 2019, Frese was arrested and charged with two violations of the

Espionage Act The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code ( ...

under 18 USC 793(d) by a

grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...

in the

Eastern District of Virginia The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (in case citations, E.D. Va.) is one of two United States district courts serving the Commonwealth of Virginia. It has jurisdiction over the Northern Virginia, Hampton Roa ...

for willful transmission of National Defense Information. He held "

Top Secret Classified information is confidential material that a government deems to be sensitive information which must be protected from unauthorized disclosure that requires special handling and dissemination controls. Access is restricted by law or ...

" (TS) clearance. He was arrested at work at the Defense Intelligence Agency in Reston, Virginia, on October 9, 2019. The Justice Department alleged that Frese disclosed the top secret information to newspaper reporters, one of which Justice alleged was a reporter with whom Frese may have been involved in a "romantic relationship," and whom the government referred to as "Journalist 1;"

Erik Wemple Erik Wemple is an American journalist who works as a columnist and media critic at ''The Washington Post''. He was formerly the editor of the alternative weekly ''Washington City Paper''. Since 2017, Wemple has been known for feuding with former ...

of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' identified the journalist as

Amanda Macias Amanda Macias (born 1990) is an American journalist who reports on national security subjects for the financial news network CNBC. Early life and education Amanda Macias was born at Fort Bliss, in El Paso, Texas. She grew up in a military family ...

, as did ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', which also identified a second involved journalist as Courtney Kube, a senior reporter for NBC. Frese and Macias had shared a home.

Guilty plea

On February 20, 2020, Frese pleaded guilty to the willful transmission of Top Secret national defense information. ''The Washington Post'', ''News'' of Australia, and ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'' all compared Frese's case to that of Senate Intelligence Committee staffer

James Wolfe Major-general James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the French at the Battle of the Plains of ...

, who allegedly passed on secrets to

Ali Watkins Ali Watkins (born 27 October 1991) is an American journalist who writes for ''The New York Times''. Along with two colleagues, she was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for a body of work consisting 10 articles spanning from March 3, 2014, t ...

during a romantic relationship.

Sentencing

On June 18, 2020, Frese was sentenced to 30 months in prison for "leaking information to two journalists, including one he was dating"; prosecutors had asked for nine years, but his defense argued, among others, that his girlfriend, “a reporter whose 'career was stalling',” had pressured and influenced him at a susceptible time. While he at first rebuffed her cajoling, his “judgment was clouded by 'a misguided effort to salvage a relationship that was not worth saving'.” Frese was released from prison on October 14, 2022.

Personal life

Frese had

Canadian citizenship Canadian nationality law details the conditions by which a person is a national of Canada. The primary law governing these regulations is the Citizenship Act, which came into force on February 15, 1977 and is applicable to all provinces and ...

, which he gave up to work in U.S. intelligence. He is a graduate of

Queen's University at Kingston Queen's University at Kingston, commonly known as Queen's University or simply Queen's, is a public university, public research university in Kingston, Ontario, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Queen's holds more than of land throughout Ontario and ...

References