NORFOLK, Va. — Navy Information Systems Technician Chief Charles Timothy Briggs reported for duty at the Navy Readiness Training Command at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in July, 2019.
But, it was between October 2018 and January 2019, at his prior duty station at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, home of U.S. Strategic Command (which oversees missile defense, nuclear weapons and other surveillance and intelligence) that Briggs ran into trouble.
According to his charge sheet, in January, 2019, Briggs allegedly used a government computer to access an e-mail with classified information that could be used to benefit a foreign nation, and he is accused of intentionally transmitting that information to a Russian national.
The document also alleges Briggs failed to report his travel to Serbia.
Among the charges Briggs faces: three counts of making a false official statement, two counts of failure to obey a lawful general regulation, obstruction of Justice, communicating defense information, and possessing and attempting to view child pornography.
"The foreign governments that try to trap our soldiers, sailors, airmen, they set little traps for them here and there - and they're all around the country," said Former Naval Intelligence Officer and author Amy Waters Yarsinkse.
She said real harm could have been done to the United States as a result of Briggs' alleged actions.
"He was an IT," she said. "That puts him in an area, if he knew what he was doing, he could've done some damage."
If convicted, Briggs faces 64 years' confinement, dishonorable discharge and reduction to E-1.