Friday, February 13 2026 - A former Army Colonel from Florida has been sentenced to two years in prison for trying to woo a woman he met online by sending her secret classified battle plans.
Retired combat vet Kevin Charles Luke, 62, was working as a
high-level civilian contractor with “top secret” clearance at US military
headquarters in Tampa in October 2024, when he texted a photo of plans for a
Middle East attack to his new fling, according to court documents.
“Sent to my boss earlier,” he wrote in the text, which
included a photo of an email on his work computer at Central Command at MacDill
Air Force Base. “Gives you a peek at what I do for a living.”
The image showed a classified email message with details
about the date of the operation, the number of targets, and battle plans, court
papers state.
The confidential email was labeled “SECRET//REL TO USA,
FVEY” — meaning it was only meant to be seen by authorized personnel in the
so-called “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance, which includes the US, the UK,
Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Roughly two months later, Luke, a decorated officer who
spent 37 years in the Army before retiring in 2018, broke up with the
unidentified woman.
She then reported him to authorities, prompting federal
agents to search his home, according to his defense attorney Mark O’Brien.
Luke later pleaded guilty to unauthorized communication of
classified military strike plans, but insisted he sent the text simply to
impress the woman, not as an act of treason or for financial gain.+
It wasn’t clear which attack his email referenced, but it
was sent days before the Central Command headquarters launched airstrikes in
Yemen, directed at Houthis, an Islamic fundamentalist military force.
“[His] betrayal of the nation’s secrets—which disclosed a
then-future military operation and put service members at risk—is deeply
troubling,” US District Judge James Moody said in his sentencing memo.
Luke wept in court as he addressed the judge.
“I stand before you accepting full responsibility for my
actions,” he said, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “What I did was wrong. I
violated the trust placed in me and, sir, I am ashamed of that.”
Prosecutors had requested he get four years behind bars, but
Moody ultimately sentenced him to two, noting he balanced the seriousness of
his crime with his years of military service.
“This is a difficult sentencing,” Moody said.
With good behavior, Luke could end up serving 15 months or
less, O’Brien told The Post.
“In a moment of bad judgment, he sent a text photo of his
work to a woman he was seeing. There is no excuse for this. It was a
split-second decision designed to impress a woman that only came to light
months later, after he ended his relationship with the woman,” O’Brien said.
“He regrets his actions deep
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