A former US Air Force serviceman has been arrested on spying charges as he prepared to fly from Washington to Europe, the Justice Department said today.
A statement by the US Attorney's office in the Eastern District of Virginia said Mr Brian Regan (38) from Bowie, Maryland, would be formally charged with conspiracy to commit espionage at a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia this afternoon.
It said the FBI arrested Mr Regan at Dulles airport outside Washington as he was about to take a flight to Zurich via Frankfurt on yesterday evening.
Mr Regan, who retired from the Air Force in August last year, had subsequently worked for a government contractor and been assigned to the National Reconnaissance Office in Virginia, where he had access to classified information, it said.
The statement gave no further details about his alleged spying activities.