A 41-year-old US Army soldier was arrested near Gloucester, England, on Tuesday on suspicion of spying for Russia while assigned to NATO’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, the alliance’s British-led rapid-deployment headquarters.
London’s Metropolitan Police said the arrest was made as part of a Counter Terrorism Policing investigation, on suspicion of offenses under sections 1 and 3 of the National Security Act 2023: obtaining, copying, retaining or disclosing “protected information,” and assisting a foreign intelligence service. “The country to which the allegations relate is Russia,” the force said. The soldier, who has not been named, is in custody at a London police station, and officers are searching two addresses in Gloucestershire.
A senior NATO military official confirmed to NBC News that the American service member “was assigned to NATO’s” ARRC, whose headquarters sits at Imjin Barracks on the outskirts of Gloucester. Three people familiar with the matter told the network the same.
