Ellicott City Man Indicted On Charges Of Lying To FBI

WASHINGTON, DC — An Ellicott City man was indicted this week on charges of making false statements to the FBI. He had a high-level position in the federal government and was responsible for ensuring all intelligence, including top secret information that could cause grave damage to national security if disclosed, was kept confidential.

James A. Wolfe, 57, of Ellicott City, is accused of lying to FBI agents about his relationships with three reporters, including sending them encrypted messages, and about sharing classified information with two reporters while he was director of security of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI).

Wolfe was the director of security for the SSCI from May 1987 to December 2017, according to the indictment. His job entailed safeguarding all of its information, including some to which the executive branch only may have been privy.

During an interview with the FBI on Dec. 15, 2017, Wolfe was asked a series of questions as part of a probe into how classified information provided by the executive branch of the federal government was leaked to the media. As part of the interview, agents showed Wolfe a newspaper article authored by three reporters that contained classified information that the executive branch had shared with the SSCI. When asked if he had contact with any of the three reporters, Wolfe checked "no" on a written questionnaire, according to the indictment. He was also asked if had contact with other reporters, and he checked "no" to that as well.

After he signed the questionnaire, FBI agents showed him a picture of a reporter he had been talking to, and he admitted he lied, the indictment states. He denied sharing any information that was not public with the reporter.

Wolfe had communicated regularly with reporters, using his cell phone and his SSCI email, employing encryption services to avoid detection, and "met clandestinely" with reporters in remote parts of the building where he worked as well as bars, restaurants and private residences, according to the indictment.

He had a personal relationship with an undergraduate student who was interning in the District of Columbia and published multiple articles about the SSCI and matters of national security from 2014 to 2017, court documents say. They exchanged tens of thousands of messages, sending daily texts and meeting in stairwells, restaurants, bars and the reporter's apartment. She was later identified by multiple media outlets as Ali Watkins, a former Buzzfeed reporter who now covers national security for The New York Times.

From September to December 2017, Wolfe had regular communication with another reporter, particularly about the subpoena of a man who subsequently emailed the SSCI with concern that the information had been leaked, the indictment says.

The same man was also the subject of some classified information Wolfe is accused of providing to Watkins, according to The Daily Caller, which identified the man as Carter Page, former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump.

Page met with a former Russian ambassador during the 2016 Republican National Convention, NBC said, and was called to testify regarding possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government.

Wolfe was indicted by a federal grand jury on three counts of lying to the FBI. The maximum sentence for each count of perjury is five years in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

“It is hoped that these charges will be a warning to those who might lie to law enforcement to the detriment of the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Liu. "Mr. Wolfe’s alleged conduct is a betrayal of the extraordinary public trust that had been placed in him.

The U.S. Attorney General signed off on the indictment on Thursday, June 7.

"Those entrusted with sensitive information must discharge their duties with honesty and integrity, and that includes telling the truth to law enforcement," Assistant Attorney General Demers said in a statement. "The Attorney General has stated that investigations and prosecutions of unauthorized disclosure of controlled information are a priority of the Department of Justice."

Added Demers: "The allegations in this indictment are doubly troubling as the false statements concern the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive and confidential information."

Wolfe was arrested Thursday and appeared before a federal judge in Baltimore Friday since he was taken into custody in Maryland, according to The Baltimore Sun, which reported he must appear before a judge Monday in the District of Columbia; that is where the case will be tried. He was released on several conditions, such as he not travel outside Maryland or D.C., not apply for a job requiring a security clearance and surrender his passport, the newspaper reported.

Wolfe is not the first Ellicott City man to make headlines for allegedly leaking top-secret government information. NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden also lived in Ellicott City until he fled to Hong Kong.

Pictured, James A. Wolfe, a former Senate Intelligence Committee aide, exits the Edward A. Garmatz United States Courthouse on June 8, 2018 in Baltimore. Wolfe has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of lying to FBI agents while they were investigating the disclosure of classified information to reporters. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)