Crime & Safety
U.S. Navy Petty Officer First Class Admits to Illegally Taking Photos Inside Nuclear Submarine
Kristian Saucier had Secret clearance and reportedly took photographs of classified spaces on USS Alexandria.
Arlington, Vt. resident Kristian Saucier, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized possession and retention of national defense information Friday, May 27.
From September 2007 to March 2012, Saucier served as a machinist’s mate aboard the USS Alexandria, a U.S. Navy Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine based at the Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton.
On at least three separate dates in 2009, Saucier used the camera on his personal cellphone to take photographs of classified spaces, instruments and equipment of the USS Alexandria, documenting the major technical components of the submarine’s propulsion system, according to a press release from Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
On January 19, 2009, at approximately 4 a.m., Saucier took two photos, one of the auxiliary steam plant panel and the other of the reactor compartment viewed through a portal.
On March 22, 2009, at approximately 1:30 a.m., Saucier took two photos that, when placed side by side, provided a panoramic array of the Maneuvering Compartment, the room from which the propulsion system of the boat is operated.
On July 15, 2009, at 12:47 p.m., Saucier took two photos documenting the reactor head configuration of the nuclear reactor and a view of the reactor compartment from within that compartment.
Saucier had a Secret clearance and knew that the photos depicted classified material and that he was not authorized to take them. He retained these photographs and failed to deliver them to any officer or employee of the U.S. entitled to receive it.
Cell Phone Found at Waste Transfer Station
The investigation began in March 2012 when Saucier's cellphone was found at a waste transfer station in Hampton, Conn. Saucier was interviewed by the FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Service in July 2012 and confronted with the classified images from his phone.
"Following that interview and in an effort to impede the federal investigation, Saucier returned to his home and immediately destroyed a laptop computer, a personal camera and the camera’s memory card," Daly said. "Pieces of a laptop computer were subsequently found in the woods on a property in Connecticut owned by a member of Saucier’s family."
Saucier was arrested on a criminal complaint on May 28, 2015, and was subsequently indicted.
Sentencing is scheduled for August 19, 2016, at which time Saucier faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000. He is released on a $100,000 bond.
Saucier is currently enlisted in the U.S. Navy as a Petty Officer First Class assigned to the Naval Support Activity Base, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. He is awaiting an administrative separation board proceeding.
Photo of USS Alexandria by Official U.S. Navy Imagery, via flickr creative commons
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