Retired U.S. Army Colonel Kevin Luke has been sentenced to 2 years in prison.
Modern.az reports that he was accused of sharing classified information to impress a woman he was dating.
Kevin Luke served in the U.S. Army from 1981 to 2018, including in Iraq. He was wounded in an explosion at that time and, after treatment, served as a division commander at Fort Knox, Kentucky, in 2017. After retiring, he worked as a civilian contractor for the U.S. Army Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.
In October 2024, he used his mobile phone to take a picture of an email on a computer screen marked SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY, and then sent it to the woman he was dating. That email contained classified information – the objectives of a planned U.S. military operation, as well as the operation's date, means of execution, and purpose.
Although the Department of Justice did not specify which operation the photo was related to, Luke sent the photo a few days before an airstrike as part of Operation "Poseidon Archer" against the Houthis in Yemen.
Shortly thereafter, Luke and the woman broke up, and the woman reported the photos to authorities. In late 2024, the FBI and Air Force executed a search warrant at his home and found several classified documents, as well as a notebook marked "Secret".
Luke pleaded guilty in October 2025 and was sentenced yesterday. After his release from 2 years in prison, he will also serve 12 months of probation.
