{"id":58344,"date":"2025-03-20T23:55:44","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T23:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/dept-of-defense-engineer-took-home-top-secret-docs-booked-a-fishing-trip-to-mexico-then-the-fbi-showed-up\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T23:55:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T23:55:44","slug":"dept-of-defense-engineer-took-home-top-secret-docs-booked-a-fishing-trip-to-mexico-then-the-fbi-showed-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/dept-of-defense-engineer-took-home-top-secret-docs-booked-a-fishing-trip-to-mexico-then-the-fbi-showed-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Dept of Defense engineer took home top-secret docs, booked a fishing trip to Mexico \u2013 then the FBI showed up"},"content":{"rendered":"

A US Department of Defense electrical engineer has turned his world upside down after printing 155 pages from 20 documents, all of which were marked top secret and classified, from his DoD workspace, brought them home with him \u2013 and was collared on his way to Mexico.<\/p>\n

Gokhan Gun, 51, of Falls Church, Virginia, a dual citizen of the US and Turkey, pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to unauthorized removal and retention of classified material. Now jobless, he is scheduled to be sentenced on June 17 and faces up to five years<\/a> in the clink. <\/p>\n

As a civilian employee for the DoD, Gun had been granted a top-secret security clearance with access to sensitive compartmented information (SCI). And as such, he had been trained on how to handle and store classified information, and was aware that secret and top-secret documents must “be stored in a [government-approved] security container” or a vault or storage area built to federal standards.<\/p>\n

Gun, pow, durr<\/h3>\n

According to the Feds, Gun also knew that his home wasn’t an approved storage facility, and yet beginning around May 2024, he began printing batches of documents from a top secret network while at work, and then left his Virginia workplace shortly after with the documents, many of which were classified intelligence reports, rolled up inside a “partially translucent shopping bag,” according to the prosecution [PDF<\/a>]:<\/p>\n

It was noted by the Feds that Gun is not prohibited from printing unclassified documents to take home. And they allege that of the 256 aforementioned documents, about 191 were printed after 1600 local time, which the security personnel say is outside of normal working hours for most employees at the facility.<\/p>\n

On August 8, a judge signed warrants approving the FBI’s search of two of Gun’s homes, along with his vehicle, and any media storage devices.<\/p>\n