The Former Major Of The United States Army And His Wife Didakwa Regarding Allegations Of Trials To Leak Military Health Data To Russia

Illustration of a secret file. (Piaxabay/TayebMEZAHDIA)

JAKARTA - A former US Army major and his wife, an anesthesiologist, has been criminally charged for allegedly planning to leak very sensitive health care data about military patients to Russia, the Justice Department said on Thursday.

Jamie Lee Henry, a former major who is also a doctor at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and his wife, Dr. Anna Gabrielian, was charged in an unsealed indictment in a federal court in Maryland, with conspiracy and misinformation on health information that could be identified individually about patients at Army bases.

The indictment alleges that after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February, the pair attempted to assist the Russian government by providing data, to help Putin's regime "get insight into individual medical conditions related to the US government and military."

The couple met with someone they believed was a Russian official, but it was actually an undercover FBI agent, the indictment said.

At a hotel in Baltimore on August 17, Gabrielian told an undercover agent "he is motivated by patriotism towards Russia to provide any assistance he can to Russia, even if it means being fired or imprisoned," the indictment said.

During the meeting, she volunteered to bring her husband into the scheme, saying Henry had information about military training provided by the United States to Ukraine, among others.

On another meeting that day, Henry told undercover agents that he was also committed to Russia, saying he had even considered volunteering to join the Russian army.

"The way I see what's happening in Ukraine now is, the United States is using Ukraine as a proxy for their own hatred of Russia," Henry told the agent, according to prosecutors.

The agent in turn urged them to read a book entitled "Inside the Aquarium: The Making of a Top Soviet Spy," telling the couple it would help them understand what they would do.

"This is a mentality of sacrificing everything and loyalty in you from the first day. It's not something you left behind," the agent said.

Henry has some doubts about providing health care data, saying it would violate the Health Insurance (HIPAA) Law and Accountability, according to the indictment, but Gabrielian has no doubts.

In the next meeting on August 24, she told agents that her husband was a coward who was concerned about violating HIPAA, but he violated the law all the time, would ensure they could give Russia access to patient medical records from Fort Bragg.

At the end of the month, he had submitted information about current military officials and former officials along with their partners, the indictment said.

Henry's lawyer, David Little, declined to comment on the allegations, but said his client was released under house arrest.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for Gabrielian could not immediately be reached for comment.