The military secrets that could have been leaked by suspected US Army spy

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The arrest of a 41-year-old senior soldier based at Nato's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps is likely to raise suspicion among allies ...

Details on troop movements, Europe’s response to Russian operations on the continent and classified intelligence on Ukraine are among military secrets that could have been leaked by a suspected spy from the US Army, experts have warned.

The arrest of a 41-year-old senior soldier based at Nato’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) is likely to raise suspicion among allies even if no damaging material has been disclosed to Kremlin intelligence agents, analysts said.

More than 400 permanent staff from over 20 countries, including dozens from the US, are based at Imjin Barracks, Gloucestershire, the alliance’s largest UK base and home to the headquarters of the ARRC.

The British-led corps is designed to command land forces ranging from a brigade numbering thousands of troops to more than 100,000 personnel during large-scale operations or exercises.

The i Paper understands that the senior soldier who was arrested on suspicion of espionage for Russia in an operation involving MI5, Counter Terrorism Policing and the FBI is a Lieutenant Colonel.

An officer in this mid-level military rank would generally have access to a broader scope of strategic, operational and higher-level classified material.

However, officials familiar with the investigation told The Washington Post, that no sensitive information was passed to Russia.

Andrei Soldatov, an exiled Russian journalist and Russian security services expert, said the recruitment of a senior US soldier would be a “significant coup” for Vladimir Putin’s intelligence agencies after more than 400 spies were expelled from Europe in the wake of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“It means that someone in the UK could be approached and recruited by Russian intelligence agencies, even after all the mass expulsions which we have been seeing since 2022,” he told The i Paper.

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