Μake us preferred on Google LONDON— A senior U.S. Army soldier who was assigned to a North Atlantic Treaty Organization rapid reaction command structure in the U.K. has been arrested on allegations of spying for Russia, according to U.S. and NATO officials.
The 41-year-old man was arrested Tuesday near Gloucester. The area is home to the NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps.
“This significant arrest and investigation is a result of close collaboration between U.K. and U.S. authorities,” said Vicki Evans, deputy assistant commissioner of the U.K.’s Metropolitan Police. “The allegations are serious and our investigation is very much ongoing.”
The NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, or ARRC, comprises servicemembers from the U.K., the U.S. and several other NATO countries. It is designed to command the alliance’s land forces in the event of a conflict or crisis. The organization recently participated in an exercise involving the defense of Europe.
The military leaders assigned to ARRC can command and control forces from the size of a brigade numbering thousands of troops up to a corps of tens of thousands, according to the organization’s website.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel said the arrest was related to allegations of espionage. A NATO official confirmed that the service member was assigned to the ARRC.
“While this investigation is continuing, I want to send a clear message—this FBI has no tolerance for anyone who breaks their oath to the United States and whose actions endanger our national security and that of our partners,” Patel said in a statement issued by British counterterrorism police.
Brig. Gen. Sean Stinchon, the commanding general of U.S. Army Counterintelligence Command, described the arrested man as a “senior soldier.”
“The alleged conduct of a senior soldier, entrusted with sensitive information, is a sobering reminder that insider threats are real and persistent,” he said in a statement.
British police said the arrest was made under Sections 1 and 3 of the National Security Act, which cover espionage. Section 1 relates to obtaining or disclosing sensitive information, while Section 3 covers assisting a foreign intelligence operation. “The country to which the allegations relate is Russia,” the police statement said.
The arrest follows an escalating campaign of cyber and other hybrid attacks against Europe, which officials think originate in Russia. In August, drones carrying explosives were flown into a German cargo airport in Leipzig but failed to detonate.
Counterterrorism police said the arrest wasn’t linked to any other active investigation, suggesting it is unrelated to an incident in which five men were arrested Sep. 27 near the RAF Fairford air base, which is roughly 30 miles from Gloucester. British counterterrorism police say one of two men charged in that case was being managed by Iranian intelligence.
The U.S. on Tuesday indicted three Iran-backed operatives for plotting an attack against Fairford in September, alleging that the men passed coded messages through third parties and relied on contacts in the U.K. to try to carry out an attack, according to a Justice Department press release. The U.S. moved B-1 bombers from the base last month after officials grew concerned about a complex plot to target American pilots and aircraft, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
The men also targeted Jewish communities in Europe and the U.S., American authorities said, alleging that they had participated in nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks across the two continents. One of the men continued to carry out plots from behind bars even after he was placed in federal custody in the U.S., they said.
Write to David Luhnow at david.luhnow@wsj.com , Shelby Holliday at shelby.holliday@wsj.com and Bojan Pancevski at bojan.pancevski@wsj.com
