[JURIST] A staff attorney with the US Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps [official website] was charged Tuesday with relaying secret national defense information to a person outside the government "with intent or reason to believe that the said information was to be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation." Lt. Cmdr. Matthew M. Diaz, who was stationed at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] for six months, allegedly printed and transmitted to an outside person names and information related to Guantanamo detainees between December 2004 and March 2005, months before AP forced the DOD to release detainee lists [JURIST report] through Freedom of Information Act requests. If convicted, Diaz faces more than 36 years in prison.

The leak was discovered when the recipient of the information, who has not been identified, notified federal authorities about the transmission. AP has more.