Alaska News

Army may make example of Alaska solider accused of espionage

A soldier stationed in Alaska, arrested Friday on suspicion of espionage, may not have had access to sensitive documents, according to NBC News.

Spc. William Colton Millay, a 22-year-old military policeman from Owensboro, Ky., was arrested at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson by special agents from Army Counterintelligence and Army Criminal Investigation Command, according to an Army official quoted in Army Times.

According to Army Times, the FBI and Army Counterintelligence investigated Millay, who was assigned to the rear detachment of the 164th Military Police Company, 793rd Military Police Battalion, 2nd Engineer Brigade. The unit, known as the Arctic Enforcers, deployed to Afghanistan in the spring without Millay.

Millay is in the custody of the Alaska Department of Corrections, where he is listed as a federal inmate at the Anchorage Correctional Complex.

On Wednesday, NBC News reported that military officials said Millay did not have access to sensitive intelligence.

According to military officials who spoke to NBC, Millay was a military policeman who had standard clearance, but no access to more-sensitive classified information. He was reportedly angry that the rest of his Arctic Enforcers unit was deployed to Afghanistan but he was not.

While the FBI was part of the initial investigation, NBC reported the agency turned the case over to Army counterintelligence.

According to Reuters, Army spokesman Lt. Col. Bill Coppernoll would not say who Millay was suspected of spying for or what sensitive information he may have had access to. Military officials also denied that Millay was connected to WikiLeaks case in which U.S. Army Pvt. Bradley Manning is accused of supplying hundreds of thousands of sensitive documents to the website while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq.

"While we can't go into any specifics, this is completely different than the Manning case in that it does not involve the transfer of data on computer networks," Coppernoll told NBC.

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FBI spokesman Special Agent Eric Gonzalez told Reuters the case would be tried in military courts.

The Army has been taking a hard line on information security violations following the arrest of Manning last year.

"The Army is very serious about prosecuting any types of espionage, or leaks, or any type of mishandling of sensitive material," Greg Rinckey, an attorney who specializes in courts-martial but is not connected to Millay's case, told the Army Times.

Rinckey said that it is possible Millay had access to sensitive information as a military policeman, but the case does not appear to be as serious as Manning's. Nevertheless, the Army seems to be sending a message by getting tough with Millay, he said.

"The Army wants to send a message to other soldiers that this is not acceptable, and it will be dealt with extremely harshly," Rinckey said.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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