A United States Air Force veteran is the last service member or former service member to be arrested and charged with allegedly disclosing classified information. On Thursday, Paul Freeman, 68, of Niceville, FL, was indicted by a federal grand jury, and the charges were unsealed after he appeared in court in Pensacola.
Freeman is alleged to have on multiple occasions between November 2020 and March 2021, transmitted classified national defense information about United States Air Force aircraft and weapons to people not authorized to access the information. He now faces 10 years in prison on each of the nine charges he was indicted on.
The U.S. Department of Justice noted, “An indictment is merely an allegation by a grand jury that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law and is not evidence of guilt.” A detention hearing has been set for Monday afternoon at the United States Courthouse in Pensacola before the Honorable United States Magistrate Judge Zachary Bolitho.
The United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are now investigating the case. The DoJ has not indicated with whom Freeman shared the classified materials, what aircraft or other systems it may have involved, or even if it was with anyone with ties to a foreign government.
Greater Scrutiny of Military Personnel
Freeman is just the latest U.S. military official to face charges for disclosing classified materials, and while his alleged actions occurred a few years ago, his indictment comes as the United States Department of Defense (DoD) has increased security screenings following the 2023 arrest of Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira, a former Massachusetts Air National Guard airmen who worked as an information technology specialist with the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base.
Teixeira was accused of leaking highly classified documents about Russia’s war in Ukraine and other sensitive secrets about U.S. allies. He pleaded guilty earlier this year.
Latest in String of Recent Incidents
Freeman’s indictment also comes just two months after a U.S. military court convicted a sailor based in Japan for attempted espionage.
Chief Petty Officer Bryce Pedicini, a fire control man, was charged with eight espionage-related counts in February for allegedly providing documents to an employee of a foreign government between November 2022 and May 2023. Pedicini was convicted on Friday of attempted espionage (Article 103a), failure to obey a lawful order (Article 92), and attempted violation of a lawful general order (Article 80).
According to the charging documents released by the U.S. Navy, Pedicini was accused of delivering two sets of classified national defense documents – referred to as “Article 1112” and “Article 1223” in the legal paperwork – to “a citizen and employee of a foreign government” between November 2022 and February 2023 in Hampton Roads, VA. The CPO was convicted of providing classified information to a citizen or employee of a foreign government at least six times, the charging documents added.
Two other U.S. Navy sailors – Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao (aka Thomas Zhao) and Jinchao Wei – were arrested in separate cases related to their respective efforts to pass military secrets and other information to Chinese intelligence officers.
Zhao was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison for accepting nearly $15,000 in bribes he received for the information he provided, which included video recordings, photos of sensitive information, documents, information on U.S. radar at the U.S. military base in Okinawa, and OPSEC information on U.S. military exercises in the Indo-Pacific Region. Wei is still facing life in prison after he allegedly revealed sensitive information on U.S. Navy ships. He has pleaded not guilty.
