US defense official charged with leaking classified intel

Washington: The Justice Department says a Defense Intelligence Agency official has been charged with leaking classified information to two journalists, including one he was dating.

Henry Kyle Frese was arrested Wednesday in Virginia. He was charged with willfully disclosing national defense information.

Prosecutors allege the 30-year-old Frese accessed five different intelligence reports and provided top secret information about another country's weapons systems to the reporter with whom he was in a relationship.

They say the reporter then published eight articles containing classified defense information between May and July 2018.

Prosecutors also allege Frese provided information to a second journalist at another news outlet.

US Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger said Frese's actions were criminal and "not selfless or heroic."