John Murray Rowe Jr., a former defense contractor from Lead, South Dakota, was sentenced to 126 months in prison for attempted espionage. The sentence, handed down by United States District Judge John M. Gallagher in Philadelphia, also includes three years of supervised release and a $25,000 fine.
Rowe, 67, pleaded guilty last year to one count of attempted delivery of national defense information to a foreign government and three counts of willful communication of national defense information. He was charged by indictment in December 2021.
Court documents show that Rowe worked for nearly four decades as a test engineer with various defense contractors. During his career, he held security clearances ranging from SECRET to TOP SECRET//SCI and was involved in projects related to U.S. Air Force electronic warfare technology. After several security violations and concerning statements about Russia and sensitive information, Rowe was identified as an insider threat and dismissed from his position.
In March 2020, Rowe met with an undercover FBI agent whom he believed represented the Russian government. At this meeting, he expressed disloyalty to the United States and interest in assisting Russia. He shared classified details about U.S. military fighter jet countermeasure systems.
Over the following eight months, Rowe exchanged more than 300 emails with the undercover agent, confirming his willingness to work for Russia and discussing classified information about U.S. national security programs. 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.” In another email and during a second face-to-face meeting in September 2020, Rowe disclosed additional classified material concerning the U.S. Air Force.
He was arrested on December 15, 2021, after being charged via criminal complaint and warrant. While detained before trial, Rowe again revealed classified information during recorded phone calls with relatives and an associate.
“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. My office and our partners will continue to hold fully accountable anyone seeking to compromise the national security of the United States.”
“The defendant spent decades working on sensitive U.S. defense programs and was entrusted with safeguarding protected and classified information about military technology. Instead of honoring that trust and his legal responsibilities as a clearance holder, he chose to violate both – repeatedly and willfully attempting to disclose classified information to someone he believed was a foreign agent,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. “The Justice Department will hold accountable those who disregard country and conscience at the expense of our Nation’s security, including, as here, out of spite.”
The investigation was led by the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office with prosecution by Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Wolfe and former DOJ Trial Attorney Scott Claffee; support came from Trial Attorney Chantelle Dial of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Section.
Additional agencies involved included local law enforcement in Lead (South Dakota), federal prosecutors from South Dakota’s district office, two units within the U.S. Air Force—the Office of Special Investigations and Life Cycle Management Center—the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency as well as FBI offices in Minneapolis and Rapid City.
