An Air Force veteran in Florida has been charged with unauthorized possession and transmission of classified material related to U.S. aircraft and weapons, marking the latest case of a current or former service member being accused of mishandling sensitive information.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida announced Thursday that retired Lt. Col. Paul J. Freeman, 68, of Niceville, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on nine counts of retaining and sharing national defense information.
“As alleged in the indictment, Freeman, on multiple occasions between November 2020 and March 2021, transmitted classified national defense information about United States Air Force aircraft and weapons to people not authorized to access the information,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release.
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Prosecutors said in the news release that Freeman could face up to 10 years in federal prison for each of the nine counts. Both the FBI and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations are working on the case, the release added.
A service record for Freeman, provided to Military.com by the Air Force, shows him as retired from active-duty service. He joined the service in 1975 as an enlisted airman and became an officer in 1984 after graduating from Officer Training School. He served until 2003 as a developmental engineer with the 46th Test…
