Weldon Marshall, 43, of the Dallas, Texas area, entered a plea of guilty to one count of unlawfully retaining national defense information.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers and U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick of the Southern District of Texas made the announcement.

From the early 2000s, Weldon Marshall unlawfully retained classified items while he served in the U.S. Navy and while working for a military contractor.

Marshall served in the U.S. Navy from approximately January 1999 to January 2004, during which time he had access to highly sensitive classified material, including documents describing U.S. nuclear command, control and communications. Those classified documents, including other highly sensitive documents classified at the secret level, were downloaded onto a compact disc labeled “My Secret TACAMO Stuff.” He later unlawfully stored the compact disc in a house he owned in Liverpool.

After he left the Navy, Marshall worked for various companies that had contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense. He worked for such a contractor until his arrest in January 2017. While employed with these companies, Marshall provided information technology services on military bases in Afghanistan, where he also had access to classified material. During his employment overseas, and particularly while he was located in Afghanistan, Marshall shipped hard drives to his Liverpool, Texas, home. The hard drives contained documents and writings classified at the secret level about ground operations in Afghanistan.

Marshall has held a top secret security clearance since approximately 2003 and a secret security clearance since approximately 2002.

U.S. District Judge George Hanks accepted Marshall’s plea and set sentencing for May 21. Marshall faces up to 10 years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes. The actual sentence will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Marshall was permitted to remain on bond pending the sentencing hearing.

The Army’s 902d Military Intelligence Group and the FBI conducted the investigation. Trial Attorney Matthew Walczewski of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Leuchtmann and Alamdar Hamdani of the Southern District of Texas are prosecuting the case.