British police arrested a 41-year-old U.S. Army member on Nov. 10 in an investigation into suspected Russia-related offenses under two provisions of the National Security Act 2023.
The Metropolitan Police said officers arrested him near Gloucester on suspicion of offenses under Sections 1 and 3 of the act. Section 1 covers obtaining or disclosing protected information, while Section 3 covers assisting a foreign intelligence service. Police have not named the man or explained the alleged conduct, what information may be involved or who might have received it. The police statement did not say whether information had actually been obtained or disclosed. It gave no arrest time or exact addresses for the searches.
The man remained in custody at a London police station while officers searched two locations in Gloucestershire. Counter Terrorism Policing London is leading the investigation with support from U.S. authorities, the U.S. military and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The Metropolitan Police said the case is not connected to other ongoing Counter Terrorism Policing investigations.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, Counter Terrorism Policing’s senior national coordinator, said the investigation resulted from close cooperation between British and U.S. authorities. “The allegations are serious and our investigation is very much ongoing,” Evans said.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the espionage allegations were “of the utmost concern to the United States and our allies.” Brig. Gen. Sean Stinchon, commanding general of U.S. Army Counterintelligence Command, described insider threats as “real and persistent.”
When Agence France-Presse (AFP) sought further details, the Pentagon sent the news agency to the U.S. Army; AFP said it had not received an immediate response to its inquiry. AFP cited the London poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 and the attempted poisoning of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018 as earlier episodes in UK-Russia tensions.
