An Eminently Service-Connected Crime--Scooped by the Feds

 DOJ today unsealed that the USAO in SDNY is prosecuting an Army private for attempting to facilitate an attack on his unit while it was deployed by leaking information to terrorist groups.

"In approximately April 2020, the Army informed Melzer of plans for a further foreign deployment by his unit.  Melzer thereafter sought to facilitate a deadly attack on his fellow service members.  After he was notified of the assignment, Melzer used an encrypted application to send messages to members and associates of [a white supremacist group] and a related group known as the “RapeWaffen Division,” including communications regarding Melzer’s commitment to [the white supremacist group] and sensitive information related to his unit’s anticipated deployment such as locations, movements, and security, for purposes of facilitating an attack on Melzer’s unit." Link Here.

Law enforcement should be commended on intercepting this threat. My question is this: isn't this perhaps the paradigmatic service-connected crime, and if so, most appropriately prosecuted in the military justice system?

Brenner Fissell

EIC