Fort Bliss soldier in Russian spy case had criminal past yet maintained top-secret Army clearance
By ROSE L. THAYER STARS AND STRIPES •
August 15, 2025
AUSTIN, Texas — A Fort Bliss soldier was already under criminal investigation when he called a Russian Embassy to share the weaknesses of the U.S. Army’s tanks in exchange for Russian citizenship and a job in the country’s defense operations. Federal court records for the espionage charges filed against Spc. Taylor Adam Lee, 22, last week did not describe what previous criminal behavior he was accused of or what agency was investigating him.
However, Lee disclosed during the FBI’s espionage investigation that his U.S. passport had been taken from him. The soldier, who enlisted in 2021, now faces charges of attempting to transmit national defense information to a foreign adversary and exporting controlled technical data without a license, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.
He was arrested and charged days after delivering a computer he had taken from a tank at Fort Bliss to a storage facility in El Paso. Federal Magistrate Judge Laura Enriquez ordered Monday that Lee remain in jail without bail after prosecutors argued he was a flight risk with a criminal history.
Read more at:
https://www.stripes.com/branches/army/2025-08-15/fort-bliss-soldier-russian-spy-tanks-18772557.htmlSource - Stars and Stripes
