The affidavit, criminal complaint and arrest warrant for John Murray Rowe Jr., is photographed on Dec. 16, 2021. The Justice Department says the engineer who worked for decades as a federal defense contractor has been arrested on charges of trying to pass classified information to someone he thought was a Russian agents but who was actually an undercover FBI employee. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
WASHINGTON (KFGO/AP) — An engineer from Lead, South Dakota who worked for decades as a federal defense contractor has pleaded guilty to charges of trying to pass classified information to someone he thought was a Russian agent but who was actually an undercover FBI employee.
The U.S. Justice Department says the FBI began an undercover operation against John Murray Rowe Jr., 65, after he was fired from his job for security violations and because he had been identified as a potential insider threat.
Over an eight-month period beginning in March 2020, Rowe traded more than 300 emails with an undercover FBI employee who posed as a Russian agent. Rowe shared operational details about U.S. military fighter jets in one email, and in another, said: “If I can’t get a job here then I’ll go work for the other team,” according to court documents.
Rowe worked for nearly 40 years as a test engineer for defense contractors and held security clearances.
He was fired in March 2018 from an unnamed company involved in aerospace matters after prosecutors say he tried to bring a thumb drive into a classified space and asked whether he could simultaneously possess a U.S. government security clearance and a Russian government clearance.
After that he was approached by an undercover FBI agent who posed as an agent of the Russian government. They met at a hotel in South Dakota, where Rowe said he’d be interested in moving to Russia and giving information to its government.
“I’ve been saying this to people. I said, ‘I’m gonna go work for the Russians. I’ve been saying that for the last two years,’” Rowe is quoted in the affidavit as saying. “We heard you. That’s why I’m here,” the undercover agent said in response.
Prosecutors say he then began communicating with another FBI employee based in Philadelphia who was posing as the same Russian agent. During a lengthy email exchange that spanned months, he shared information about electronic countermeasure systems used by U.S. fighter jets and again conveyed his interest in moving to Russia.
Rowe faces a potential life sentence. His sentencing is set for Aug. 22.
The FBI continues to investigate the case.
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