DOJ: Defense Intelligence Agency employee arrested, caught 'red-handed' leaking top secret info to journalists

The Department of Justice on Wednesday announced the arrest of a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, who authorities say was caught "red-handed" leaking top secret information to two reporters.

What are the details?

Henry Kyle Frese, 30, faces up to 20 years in prison after allegedly using his Top Secret government security clearance to pass along classified information to the journalists — one of whom prosecutors say was involved in a romantic relationship with Frese.

"As laid out in today's indictment, Frese was caught red-handed disclosing sensitive national security information for personal gain," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said in a statement regarding the arrest. "Frese betrayed the trust placed in him by the American people — a betrayal that risked harming the national security of this country. This is one of six unauthorized disclosure cases the Department has charged in just over two years, and we will continue in our efforts to punish and deter this behavior."

Politico reported that between mid-April and early May 2018, "Frese allegedly accessed as many as five classified intelligence reports, and provided top secret information relating to the capabilities of a certain foreign country's weapons system to one journalist for a national media outlet with whom he appeared to have a relationship."

The DOJ's press release noted that "Frese and Journalist 1 had the same residence address from August 2017 through August 2018 and, based on reviews of Frese's and journalist 1's public media pages, it appears that they were involved in a romantic relationship for some or all of that period of time."

The DOJ did not identify the journalists involved, but The Daily Mail reported that they are CNBC national security reporter Amanda Macias and NBC national security reporter Courtney Kube.

According to court documents, Frese re-tweeted several stories written by Macias, including a report on "Putin's 'unlimited range' nuclear-powered cruise missile" citing "U.S. intel reports."

Anything else?

The second reporter, Courtney Kube, was already in the news Wednesday prior to the revelation of Frese's arrest. Earlier that day, the NBC reporter's little boy interrupted her during a live broadcast, and the arrival of the unexpected "special guest" made headlines across the world.