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October 11,2021

Andrew Campbell 

According to the US Department of Justice, a Navy nuclear engineer and his wife were arrested on espionage charges in West Virginia on October 9 after allegedly attempting to sell confidential information. Jonathan Toebbe and his wife, Diana Toebbe, were arrested and charged with violating the Atomic Energy Act after attempting to sell the design of nuclear-powered submarines to an unidentified foreign country, according to court documents made public on October 10.

Toebbe allegedly discussed espionage tradecraft and payments with someone he thought was a foreign spy but was actually an undercover FBI agent nearly a year ago, according to court documents. Toebbe provided information on the design, operation, and performance of nuclear submarine reactors of the Virginia class. Virginia-class submarines are outfitted with cruise missiles as well as cutting-edge stealth, intelligence-gathering, and weapons system technology. Each will cost around $3 billion to build.

According to the court documents, Toebbe, 42, who served in the Navy until 2017, had been working on nuclear propulsion for submarines since 2012. Toebbe orchestrated several so-called dead drops of restricted data between June 2021 and October 9, in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency. According to the criminal complaint, his wife, Diana, 45, a high school humanities teacher, accompanied him on these dead drops and acted as a lookout. Both Toebbes are scheduled to appear in court for the first time on October 12.