The Army's first transgender officer has been charged with trying to divulge medical data to Russians in an effort to support Vladimir Putin's efforts in Ukraine.
A grand jury reached its conclusion that Major Jamie Lee Henry, who is transgender, and his spouse Anna Gabrielian (confused yet?) have committed a crime of conspiracy and improperly divulged “individually identifiable health information.” On Thursday, the indictment was unsealed after the two were detained.
Breaking 911 gives additional details:
At about 8:10 p.m. that evening, the indictment alleges that Gabrielian and Henry met with the UC in the UC’s hotel room. During the meeting, Henry explained to the UC he was committed to assisting Russia and 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.” Henry and Gabrielian allegedly offered to provide the UC with private medical records from the United States Army and Medical Institution 1 in order to help the Russian government. During the same meeting, Gabrielian demanded that if she were put 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.” Henry also indicated that he was concerned about passing a background check for his security clearance, telling the UC, “I don’t want to know your name . . . because I want plausible deniability too. In a security clearance situation they want to know names and people and all this stuff.”
I'm not certain what the relationship to Russia was, however Henry seemed to be highly involved. He even tried to become a member of with the Russian Army, though he was rejected because he lacks combat experience. In the end, he and his wife, who was a doctor at Johns Hopkins University, tried to just give them details. Johns Hopkins has since scrubbed its website of all mentions of Gabrielian.
It's quite obvious that Henry isn't thinking clearly, given that his plans were so haphazard and ingenuous. Perhaps the US Army shouldn't be affirming those with obvious mental illness.
Merely declaring that is a reason for being cancelled, but they’ve set an extremely low standard. If someone is upset by the fact that they think they're an opposite gender and are actively seeking for ways to “change” their gender, it's possible that they should not be holding top-secret security clearances.
The couple might get a lengthy sentence in prison for their scheme and they ought to. Incredibly, despite being initially celebrated, Henry being the first transgender officer in the US Army probably won't be an event that the transgender advocacy group celebrates any longer.
