A nuclear engineer from the US Navy General Directorate stole the submarine's blueprints and tried to sell them to foreigners.
The US Department of Justice has reported the leaked drawings of a Virginia-class nuclear submarine and the arrest of those responsible for it.
US Navy General Directorate nuclear engineer Jonathan Toebbe reportedly contacted what he believed to be foreign government officials and suggested that they buy from him "restricted data associated with the blueprints of a nuclear-powered warship.".
The FBI took possession of a letter sent to Tobbe in April 2020. It contained several US Navy documents and instructions for setting up a secure communications channel.
"Please forward this letter to the military intelligence of your state. I am sure this information will be extremely useful to your country. This is not a joke," the letter said.
After intercepting the letter, the FBI decided to catch Tobbe on a hot one. Posing as interested buyers, the agents paid the engineer $ 10,000 in cryptocurrency, after which Tobbe, along with his wife Diana, uploaded the data to an SD card and left it at the appointed place.
"The SD card was wrapped in a plastic bag and placed between two pieces of bread in half a peanut butter sandwich," the Justice Department said.
A second SD card was later delivered, this time hidden in a package of chewing gum. After that, Tobbe received another $ 70 thousand in cryptocurrency. In total, the couple received $ 110,000 in Monero from the FBI.
Upon delivery of each SD card, the engineer sent the "customers" a decryption key. The keys were working, and the FBI found that the maps contained "restricted data associated with the nuclear submarine's reactors."
The Tobbe couple were arrested on October 9, 2021.
In the process of correspondence with the "buyer" the engineer explained how he managed to get access to the secret blueprints.
“I gradually and carefully collected this information over several years in the process of my work, so as not to attract attention, and carried it through the checkpoints several pages at a time,” Tobbe said.
The Virginia-class submarines are fourth-generation multipurpose nuclear submarines of the US Navy. Designed to combat submarines at depth and for coastal operations. In addition to the standard armament, the boat also has equipment for special operations - unmanned underwater vehicles, an airlock for light divers, a deck mount for a container or an ultra-small submarine.
The US Department of Justice has reported the leaked drawings of a Virginia-class nuclear submarine and the arrest of those responsible for it.
US Navy General Directorate nuclear engineer Jonathan Toebbe reportedly contacted what he believed to be foreign government officials and suggested that they buy from him "restricted data associated with the blueprints of a nuclear-powered warship.".
The FBI took possession of a letter sent to Tobbe in April 2020. It contained several US Navy documents and instructions for setting up a secure communications channel.
"Please forward this letter to the military intelligence of your state. I am sure this information will be extremely useful to your country. This is not a joke," the letter said.
After intercepting the letter, the FBI decided to catch Tobbe on a hot one. Posing as interested buyers, the agents paid the engineer $ 10,000 in cryptocurrency, after which Tobbe, along with his wife Diana, uploaded the data to an SD card and left it at the appointed place.
"The SD card was wrapped in a plastic bag and placed between two pieces of bread in half a peanut butter sandwich," the Justice Department said.
A second SD card was later delivered, this time hidden in a package of chewing gum. After that, Tobbe received another $ 70 thousand in cryptocurrency. In total, the couple received $ 110,000 in Monero from the FBI.
Upon delivery of each SD card, the engineer sent the "customers" a decryption key. The keys were working, and the FBI found that the maps contained "restricted data associated with the nuclear submarine's reactors."
The Tobbe couple were arrested on October 9, 2021.
In the process of correspondence with the "buyer" the engineer explained how he managed to get access to the secret blueprints.
“I gradually and carefully collected this information over several years in the process of my work, so as not to attract attention, and carried it through the checkpoints several pages at a time,” Tobbe said.
The Virginia-class submarines are fourth-generation multipurpose nuclear submarines of the US Navy. Designed to combat submarines at depth and for coastal operations. In addition to the standard armament, the boat also has equipment for special operations - unmanned underwater vehicles, an airlock for light divers, a deck mount for a container or an ultra-small submarine.
