Posted on 11/18/2020 10:24:18 AM PST by Perseverando
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A former Army Green Beret pleaded guilty Wednesday to divulging military secrets to Russia about his Special Forces unit's activities in former Soviet republics.
Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, 45, of Gainesville, Virginia, pleaded guilty to a charge under the federal Espionage Act at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.
He faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced in February.
Debbins, a Minnesota native, had a 15-year relationship with Russian intelligence, dating back to 1996 when he was an ROTC student at the University of Minnesota and on a visit to Russia for an independent study program gave a handler there the names of four Catholic nuns he had visited, according to the charges against him. Shortly thereafter, Russian agents assigned him a code name, “Ikar Lesnikov.”
Debbins told Russian intelligence he considered himself a “son of Russia,” and “thought that the United States was too dominant in the world and needed to be cut down to size," according to the indictment. He even offered to take a polygraph test to prove his Russian loyalty when one handler accused him of being a double agent for the U.S.
“Our country entrusted Debbins with the responsibility and training to protect it from its adversaries,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, whose office prosecuted the case, in a statement. “Debbins betrayed that trust and betrayed his fellow service members by conspiring to provide national defense information to Russian intelligence operatives."
Debbins's lawyer and family members who attended Wednesday's hearing did not comment after the hearing.
He joined the Army as an active duty officer in 1998 and served through 2005, the last two years as a Special Forces officer — a career path that his Russian handlers encouraged.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Oh, so he voted for Biden on November 3rd with the rest of the Communist traitors? Well duh!
In a true Republic of laws, if this is true, this man would be hanged.
Not sure we are there anymore.
And it only took over 15 years to do something about his traitorous acts.
HRC, Odinga and the Biden cabal are safe for at least another 10 years
Looks like Jeffery Dalmer.
Maybe Matthew Barakat can look into the money Hunter Biden “earned” from China.
Why OHLY go after the little fish when Moby Dick is swimming around?
Exactly. Short drop and a quick stop would be appropriate.
Comrade Jarkoff is more like it.
When an Officer gets his commission, it comes with a Secret clearance. There is an investigation of his background to determine if that clearance is ok. What happened to his investigation and all that time he spent in Russia? Regardless, he should be hung for treason. (Retired Army Officer)
He was a Spec Ops officer. He would have had a Top Secret clearance (at a minimum) probably based on a (SBI) Special Background Investigation.
It's been a long time since I was involved in security clearance issues.
“Debbins told Russian intelligence he considered himself a “son of Russia,” and “thought that the United States was too dominant in the world and needed to be cut down to size,” according to the indictment. He even offered to take a polygraph test to prove his Russian loyalty when one handler accused him of being a double agent for the U.S.”
Sounds like the Lt. Col. Vindman character, regarding Ukraine.
From article: // Debbins... gave a handler there the names of four Catholic nuns he had visited, according to the charges against him. //
Was on his first trip to Russia in 1996, as U Minn ROTC student on “independent studies program”! He intended bad from the beginning, or was too easily turned - yet these proclivities didn’t show up in background check of writings & contacts when he later applied for Special Forces? Was he really that compartmentalized?
1996 - he ratted on 4 nuns - what, if anything, happened to them?
U Minn 1996 -> now
If he had a TS clearance, whoever did his background check should go to jail too.
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