U.S. Army Officer Arrested in Britain on Suspicion of Spying for Russia

A U.S. Army officer has been arrested in Britain on suspicion of trying to spy for Russia, according to The New York Times. The officer is Lt. Col. Brandon Tyner, 41.

Tyner has served as a senior human resources officer in the U.S. Army since January 2008. He deployed to Afghanistan for a year starting in December 2013, and he served in Qatar before that. He later served in Iraq in 2019 and 2020. He has received the Bronze Star Medal and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, both U.S. military decorations.

At the time of his arrest, Tyner was based at the headquarters of NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in Gloucestershire, about 100 miles west of London. NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is the military alliance of North American and European countries. The Gloucestershire headquarters is NATO's largest base in Britain and hosts troops from 20 allied nations, whose job is rapid response to crises.

Two American officials said British officials are expected to charge Tyner on Sunday or Monday. If he is charged in Britain, the U.S. Army will seek to charge him under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the criminal code that governs the U.S. armed forces, and transfer him to the United States, the officials said.

FBI Director Kash Patel said the case involved allegations of espionage, the gathering of secret information for a foreign government. Officials said the country to which the allegations relate is Russia.

The Kremlin, the office of the Russian president, has denied any involvement. Its spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said the arrest has nothing to do with Russia.

British police said the arrest of Tyner is not related to the RAF Fairford and RAF Molesworth cases, referring to Royal Air Force sites in Britain.