PHILADELPHIA – John Murray Rowe Jr., 67, of Lead, South Dakota, was sentenced to 126 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $25,000 fine for attempted espionage, U.S. Attorney David Metcalf announced alongside the Justice Department and the FBI.
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. The charges stem from a December 2021 indictment.
According to court documents, Rowe worked for nearly 40 years as a test engineer for various cleared defense contractors and held national security clearances up to TOP SECRET//SCI. His work involved U.S. Air Force electronic warfare technology.
After being flagged as a potential insider threat and terminated due to several security violations and suspicious behavior, Rowe contacted an undercover FBI agent in March 2020, whom he believed to be a Russian intelligence operative. During that meeting, and in a second meeting in September 2020, Rowe disclosed classified information related to U.S. electronic countermeasure systems used by military fighter jets.
Between March and November 2020, Rowe exchanged over 300 emails with the agent, expressing his desire to aid Russia and offering sensitive national defense information. In one message, he wrote, “If I can’t get a job [in the United States] then I’ll go work for the other team.” He also repeated disclosures of classified material during recorded phone calls while in custody following his December 15, 2021, arrest.
“Despite his knowledge, training, experience, and decades of work as a military contractor, Rowe chose to betray the trust placed in him by his country,” said U.S. Attorney Metcalf. “His repeated, willful efforts to harm the U.S. by divulging sensitive defense information to an adversary are inexcusable.”
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office, with assistance from several federal and military agencies including the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Wolfe, DOJ Trial Attorney Scott Claffee, and Trial Attorney Chantelle Dial of the National Security Division.
