John Murray Rowe Jr., Attempted Espionage, South Dakota 2023

A former defense contractor has pleaded guilty to attempted espionage and willful communication of national defense information in a South Dakota court.

John Murray Rowe Jr., 65, of Lead, South Dakota, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted delivery of national defense information to a foreign government and three counts of willful communication of national defense information.

According to court documents, Rowe was employed for nearly 40 years as a test engineer for multiple cleared defense contractors. In connection with his employment, Rowe held various national security clearances from SECRET to TOP SECRET//SCI and worked on matters relating to U.S. Air Force electronic warfare technology, among other things.

Rowe was identified as a potential insider threat and terminated from employment after committing a number of security violations and revealing a devout interest in Russian affairs.

In March 2020, Rowe met with an undercover FBI agent who was posing as an agent of the Russian government. During this meeting, Rowe disclosed national defense information classified as SECRET that concerned specific operating details of the electronic countermeasure systems used by U.S. military fighter jets, among other things.

Over the course of the next eight months, Rowe exchanged over 300 emails with the purported Russian agent, confirming his willingness to work for the Russian government and discussing his knowledge of classified information relating to U.S. national security.

Rowe was arrested on Dec. 15, 2021, and was ordered detained pending trial. During his pretrial detention at the Philadelphia Federal Detention Center, Rowe made at least three unauthorized disclosures of the same classified national defense information concerning the U.S. Air Force to individuals not authorized to receive it.

Sentencing is set for Aug. 22, and Rowe faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

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