Department Of Defense Engineer From Virginia Charged With Taking Classified Documents: Feds

An engineer from Istanbul living in Virginia who worked for the Department of Defense has been accused of taking classified documents without permission, federal authorities announced on Tuesday.

Falls Church resident Gokhan Gun, 50, a civilian engineer for the DoD, has been charged in federal court with unauthorized removal and retention of classified material following an investigation that was launched earlier this year.

According to court documents, "through his employment, Gun possesses a Top Secret security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) and has received training on the proper handling and storage of classified information."

Beginning in May, Gun allegedly printed documents, some of which were marked Top Secret, and without permission removed them from his authorized work location.

Between May 10 and Wednesday, Aug. 7, it is alleged that Gun printed more than a dozen classified documents, and he was later caught exiting his workplace with a bag full of hard copy documents before entering two different residences in Fairfax and Falls Church, both owned by Gun.

Days later, on Aug. 9, Gun was scheduled to leave the country on a flight Mexico, but he was intercepted along the way, and searches at his Virginia residences led to the recovery of a Top Secret document and a printout listing Gun’s security clearances—both of which were recovered from his backpack.

Inside one of the homes, agents also "observed stacks of papers among which were multiple documents with visible classification markings, including pages bearing Top Secret and SCI classification markings."

The case is now being investigated by the FBI.

If convicted, Gun faces five years in prison.

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