Ryan G. Anderson Case Summary

Case facts Ryan G. Anderson, 26 years old, of Lynnwood, Washington was arrested in February 2004 and later charged with five counts of attempted espionage by trying to contact and pass intelligence and military information to al-Qaida (Herbig, 2008). Anderson’s arrest occurred through an FBI sting operation one month before he was to be shipped out to Iraq as a tank crewmember with a Fort Lewis, Washington, National Guard unit. Although FBI officers intercepted the information, Anderson’s actions culminated in attempted treason against the U.S. and U.S. soldiers. The charges included attempting to aid the enemy by passing sketches of the military M1A1 and M1A2 tanks, along with providing a computer disk with his personal information such as his military identification card as well as his military weapons card, military driver’s license and his passport photo (Rivera, 2004a). Other charges included attempting to give intelligence to the enemy by providing U.S. troops numbers, equipment, troop movements, military

It is assumed that Anderson’s parents were divorced at the time of the hearing because reports stated his mother lived in Arizona while his father lived in Washington (Haley, 2004). Not much could be obtained concerning his past family history other than his father revealed that as a child, Anderson had a learning disability and he also had a large interest in airplanes and the military. While attending high school, Anderson was the vice president of the Junior Statesmen of America where he often debated gun control and other political issues (Herbig, 2008). Students from his high school describe him as an average student who did not have enemies and was liked by others; not too showy and not bad either (Carter, 2004). After high school he attended Washington State University. While in college he met and later married his wife in 2003 and they moved to Lynnwood,