LEAD, S.D. (WDNews) — A former U.S. defense contractor has been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for attempting to share classified military information with someone he believed was a Russian agent.
John Murray Rowe Jr., 67, of Lead, South Dakota, received a sentence of 126 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and a $25,000 fine, federal prosecutors announced. Rowe pleaded guilty in April 2024 to one count of attempted delivery of national defense information to a foreign government and three counts of willful communication of national defense information.
Rowe spent nearly 40 years working on sensitive U.S. Air Force electronic warfare programs and held multiple clearances from SECRET to TOP SECRET//SCI. Court documents said he was terminated from his defense contractor position after repeated security violations and troubling statements about Russia.
In March 2020, Rowe told an undercover FBI agent, whom he believed to be working for Russia, that he was “not loyal to the United States” and was interested in helping Moscow. Over the next eight months, he exchanged more than 300 emails with the agent, confirming his willingness to work for Russia and disclosing classified details of U.S. military fighter jet countermeasure systems.
“If I can’t get a job [in the United States] then I’ll go work for the other team,” Rowe wrote in one email, according to prosecutors.
Rowe was arrested in December 2021 and remained in custody pending trial. Officials said he continued to share classified information with relatives and an associate during recorded prison calls.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said Rowe “chose to violate both [trust and responsibility] — repeatedly and willfully attempting to disclose classified information to someone he believed was a foreign agent.”
“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,” U.S. Attorney David Metcalf for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said. “His repeated, willful efforts to harm the U.S. by divulging sensitive defense information to an adversary are inexcusable.”
“By attempting to disclose classified information on U.S. Air Force systems to the Russian government, John Rowe endangered American lives and compromised U.S. national security,” added FBI Counterintelligence Division Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky.
The FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office led the investigation with support from agencies including the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, and local law enforcement in South Dakota.
