A former defense contractor who worked on sensitive U.S. military technology for nearly four decades was sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison for attempting to sell classified information to Russia.
John Murray Rowe Jr., 67, of Lead, South Dakota, received 126 months behind bars, three years of supervised release, and a $25,000 fine after pleading guilty to attempted espionage charges.
Rowe’s betrayal involved some of America’s most closely guarded military secrets, including electronic warfare systems used by fighter jets.
According to the Department of Justice announcement, Rowe held security clearances ranging from SECRET to TOP SECRET//SCI during his career as a test engineer. He worked specifically on U.S. Air Force electronic warfare technology before being terminated as a potential insider threat.
The FBI caught Rowe in an undercover operation beginning in March 2020. He told an agent posing as a Russian operative that he wasn’t loyal to the United States and wanted to help Russia.
“If I can’t get a job [in the United States] then I’ll go work for the other team,” Rowe wrote in one of more than 300 emails exchanged with the supposed Russian agent.
During two in-person meetings, Rowe disclosed classified details about electronic countermeasure systems used by U.S. military fighter jets. Even after his December 2021 arrest, he continued sharing the same classified information during recorded prison phone calls.
“The defendant spent decades working on sensitive U.S. defense programs and was entrusted with safeguarding protected and classified information about military technology. Instead of honoring that trust and his legal responsibilities as a clearance holder, he chose to violate both – repeatedly and willfully attempting to disclose classified information to someone he believed was a foreign agent,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg.
The investigation involved multiple agencies, including the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and local police in Lead, South Dakota. Prosecutors from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the National Security Division handled the case.
“By attempting to disclose classified information on U.S. Air Force systems to the Russian government, John Rowe endangered American lives and compromised U.S. national security,” said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.
Rowe pleaded guilty in April 2024 to one count of attempted delivery of national defense information to a foreign government and three counts of willful communication of national defense information.