A retired U.S. Army officer from Tampa has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for disclosing classified national defense information, federal prosecutors announced.
Kevin Charles Luke, 62, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. to 24 months behind bars after pleading guilty on Oct. 7, 2025, to unlawfully sharing classified material. Prosecutors said Luke admitted in a plea agreement that he abused a position of public trust.
According to court records, Luke served on active duty and in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1981 until retiring as a colonel in June 2018. After leaving military service, he worked as a civilian employee at U.S. Central Command and held a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information clearance. Officials said he repeatedly acknowledged his duty to safeguard classified information, including signing a Standard Form 312 nondisclosure agreement as recently as February 2019.
Investigators determined that in October 2024, Luke sent a woman a text message from his personal cellphone referencing information he had provided to his supervisor. He then transmitted a photograph of a computer screen displaying a classified email he authored using a government system intended for secure communications. The image revealed details of a planned U.S. military operation, including targets, timing, execution methods, and operational objectives. Authorities said the material was marked at the Secret level and that its unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to U.S. national security.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Army Office of Special Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Schmidt and Trial Attorney Leslie Esbrook of the Justice Department’s National Security Division Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced the sentence following the court’s ruling.
