An Army officer who worked for U.S. Pacific Command is on trial in Hawaii for illegally possessing and passing classified national defense information, the Army said today.
Maj. Seivirak Inson’s court-martial trial began at Wheeler Army Airfield Wednesday, said Capt. Leslie Waddle, a spokeswoman for the Army’s 8th Theater Sustainment Command.
Inson now is with the sustainment command, but previously worked at U.S. Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Operations Center, Waddle said.
Inson is the third case of alleged security leaks to come up in three months time in Hawaii, known to be a hotbed for spying on the United States by both allied and non-allied nations.
Edward Snowden, who lived in Hawaii and worked as a National Security Agency contractor, was revealed this week by the Guardian newspaper as the individual who exposed secret NSA surveillance programs.
Federal investigators said in March, meanwhile, that Benjamin Bishop, 59, a defense contractor for U.S. Pacific Command at Camp Smith, gave his 27-year-old Chinese girlfriend classified information about war plans and nuclear weapons.
Inson is accused of passing classified intelligence assessments of Cambodia to an unidentified person not entitled to have them between 2009 and 2012, according to a list of charges against him.
Star-Advertiser news partner Hawaii News Now reported that Inson, 43, a longtime intelligence officer who served in Iraq, is accused of attempting to hand over military secrets to individuals connected to the Cambodian government.
Inson also is accused of unauthorized possession of a U.S. Pacific Command maritime strategy document which he “had reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States,” according to a charging report.
