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9h ago

Fort Bliss Soldier Charged With Attempted Transfer of Abrams Tank Secrets to Russia

The Justice Department alleges a 22-year-old soldier used his Top Secret clearance to hand over classified Abrams tank schematics accompanied by hardware to someone he believed was a Russian agent in exchange for citizenship

An entrance to Fort Bliss is seen in Texas on June 25, 2018.
Members of the U.S Army sit atop an M1A2 Abrams tank near the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo
Justin Simmons, United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas, announced the arrest Wednesday of Taylor Lee Adams, 22, of El Paso. The Fort Bliss active-duty Army soldier has been accused of trying to transmit data to the Russian government. 
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Overview

  • Taylor Adam Lee, 22, an active-duty U.S. Army soldier at Fort Bliss, was arrested August 6 and charged under the Espionage Act and the Arms Export Control Act.
  • Court documents detail Lee’s months-long effort beginning in May to validate his Army credentials and transmit export-controlled technical data on the M1A2 Abrams tank online.
  • In July Lee allegedly met an individual he thought represented the Russian government, passed over an SD card of sensitive documents and later delivered tank hardware with the message “Mission accomplished.”
  • Investigators from the FBI’s Washington and El Paso field offices and Army Counterintelligence Command uncovered the alleged plot and prosecutors from the National Security Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Texas filed the criminal complaint.
  • Lee remains in federal custody awaiting trial under the complaint and continues to be presumed innocent as the FBI and Army counterintelligence probe progresses.