He has filed a petition to plead guilty to two national security charges

Sep 24, 2013 07:03 GMT  ·  By
Donald John Sachtleben files petition to plead guilty to national security charges
   Donald John Sachtleben files petition to plead guilty to national security charges

Former FBI bomb technician Donald John Sachtleben, 55, has filed a petition to plead guilty to illegally leaking national defense information related to a disrupted terrorist bomb plot to the press.

This is the second petition to plead guilty filed by Sachtleben, who had also worked as a government contractor for the FBI after retiring from the agency in 2008. The first petition was for possession and distribution of child molestation content, for which he was arrested in May.

Nine days before he was arrested on the possession and distribution charges, Sachtleben knowingly and willfully disclosed the details of a disrupted al-Qaeda suicide bomb plot against a US-bound airliner to a news organization, namely the Associated Press.

Prosecutors say the man had reason to believe that the information he had leaked could have been used to the advantage of a foreign nation. The details handed over by the former bomb technician to the press compromised national security and jeopardized a major international intelligence operation.

As per the plea agreements, Sachtleben will be sentenced to a total of 140 months in prison. 43 months are for two national security charges, and 97 months for the possession and distribution charges.

“That plot could not have been more serious, as it targeted a plane bound for the United States. After unprecedented investigative efforts by prosecutors and FBI agents and analysts, today Donald Sachtleben has been charged with this egregious betrayal of our national security,” United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald C. Machen Jr. said.

“These charges are the result of a careful and thorough investigation by FBI Special Agents and analysts who, together with federal prosecutors, systematically conducted more than 500 interviews and, following that exhaustive process, analyzed relevant telephone records obtained by subpoena,” noted Valerie Parlave, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

“After analysis of the telephone records, investigators identified him as the source of this unlawful disclosure.”