1st Openly Trans Army Officer Arrested for Trying to Pass Secrets to Russia

The Army’s first openly transgender officer was indicted this week on charges of trying to give American service members medical information to the Russian government.

A federal grand jury in Baltimore indicted the officer, Maj. Jamie Lee Henry, and Henry’s wife, Anna Gabrielan, who is a Johns Hopkins anesthesiologist, on counts of conspiracy and wrongful disclosure of individually identifiable health information (IIHI), court documents show.

According to court documents, Henry and Gabrielan were approached by an undercover FBI agent posing as a Russian diplomat. Gabrielan asked the agent if she was from the Russian Embassy, and the agent said she was. Gabrielan offered the undercover agent medical information from Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The Department of Justice noted that Fort Bragg houses the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps, headquarters of the United States Army Special Operations Command, and the Womack Army Medical Center.

In an August meeting with the undercover agent, Gabrielan said she was “motivated by patriotism toward Russia to provide any assistance she could to Russia, even if it meant going to jail.” In addition, Gabrielan proposed “cover stories” for her meeting with the agent in case U.S. authorities confronted her.

“Gabrielan also told the UC during that meeting that Henry, a military officer, was currently a more important source for Russia than she was since Henry had more helpful information, including on how the U.S. military establishes an army hospital in war conditions and about previous training the U.S. military provided to Ukrainian military personnel,” the court documents said.

In a second meeting, both Henry and Gabrielan met with the UC.

“During that meeting, Henry explained to the UC he was committed to assisting Russia, and he had looked into volunteering to join the Russian Army after the conflict in Ukraine began, but Russia wanted people with ‘combat experience,’ and he did not have any. Henry further stated: ‘the way I am viewing what is going on in Ukraine now is that the United States is using Ukrainians as a proxy for their own hatred toward Russia.’”

The documents explain that Gabrielan accessed and provided the UC with medical records of the spouse of a U.S. government employee to be passed along to the Russian government.

“Gabrielan highlighted to the UC a medical issue reflected in the records of [the military member’s spouse] that Russia could exploit,” the documents state.

Gabrielan and Henry also told the UC they could obtain the medical information of associated military family members to pass along to the Russian government.

According to The Baltimore Banner, Henry, a doctor at Fort Bragg, gave the undercover agent information on five patients at a military facility. This reportedly included a retired Army officer, a current Department of Defense employee, and the spouses of deceased Army veterans.

In 2015, Buzzfeed published a piece praising Henry as the first “out” transgender active duty Army officer.

“Henry says her story — and the story of many other trans people currently serving — proves that being out and trans is compatible with military service. What’s more, Henry says that being trans has made her a better service member and better doctor,” Buzzfeed wrote.

The court documents show that Gabrielan and Henry concocted a plan for their children if they got arrested.

“GabrieIan demanded that if she were to take an action that put her at significant risk of arrest, she wanted her and Henry’s children to ‘have a nice flight to Turkey to go on vacation because I don’t want to end in jail here with my kids being hostages over my head.’”

The DOJ noted that if convicted, Gabrielan and Henry face a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for the conspiracy and a maximum of 10 years in federal prison for each count of disclosing IIHI.