A U.S. Navy sailor stationed at Fort Bragg passed classified documents to someone he thought was a foreign intelligence agent in exchange for cash, according to a federal search warrant.
Navy Reserve Intelligence Specialist 3rd Class Bryan Minkyu Martin was arrested last week but has not been charged, according to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Martin, 22, is being held in the naval brig in Norfolk, Virginia, while the investigation continues.
Paul O'Donnell, a spokesman for the NCIS, said investigators were confident no classified information was actually delivered to anyone not authorized to see it.
According to a warrant filed in Eastern District Court in North Carolina, Martin accepted a total of $3,500 from an undercover FBI agent in exchange for dozens of pages of documents that were classified either secret or top secret.
In the initial Nov. 15 meeting with the undercover agent, at a Hampton Inn near Fort Bragg, Martin told the agent his current assignment focused on Afghanistan, and that he would one day work for the Defense Intelligence Agency, according to the warrant.
"Martin stated that over his prospective 15 to 20 year career, he could be very valuable," the warrant says.
Martin was paid $500, along with the promise of more money in exchange for secret documents, according to the warrant. At two subsequent meetings, Martin handed over documents in exchange for two payments of $1,500 in cash, for which he signed a receipt using a code name, the warrant says.
It could not be immediately determined if Martin has a lawyer. A phone number listed for his parents in New York was busy and then rang unanswered.
Martin enlisted in the Navy in 2006 and received a top secret-level security clearance the following year. Before coming to Fort Bragg in September, he was stationed at military facilities in Syracuse, New York, Jackson, South Carolina, San Diego and Washington, D.C.
According to court documents, investigators seized a laptop computer, a digital audio recorder, a cell phone and unspecified file folders from the hotel on Fort Bragg where Martin was living.
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Associated Press Writer Anne Flaherty contributed to this report from Washington.