Military policeman arrested in Alaska on suspicion of spying

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A young military policeman stationed in Alaska has been arrested on suspicion of espionage, but military officials disclosed no details in their announcement Tuesday.

Specialist William Colton Millay, 22, was taken into custody Friday in Anchorage, where he is stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, the Army said in a brief statement.

‘The investigation is being conducted right now, and I don’t have anything else to add,’ Lt. Col. Bill Coppernoll, public affairs office for the Army in Alaska, told The Times.

Millay, of Owensboro, Ky., is a military policeman assigned to the 164th Military Police Company, 793rd Military Police Battalion, 2nd Engineer Brigade -- known as the ‘Arctic Enforcers.’

The arrest followed a joint investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Army Counterintelligence and the Army’s criminal investigative division, officials said, and will be prosecuted in the military court system.

‘Today’s arrest was the result of the close working relationship between the FBI and its military partners in Alaska. Through this ongoing partnership, we are better able to protect our nation,’ Mary Frances Rook, special agent in charge of the FBI in Alaska, said in a statement.

The Army Times broke the story of the arrest over the weekend but had few substantive details. It quoted a friend of Millay’s, Janssen Payne, as saying the young MP was ‘as loyal to his country as he is to his best friends.’

‘He was really patriotic and really loved his country,’ Payne said. ‘I just don’t see the motivation for him to do it.’

Millay’s company has served in both Afghanistan and Iraq over the past five years and last spring redeployed to Afghanistan to train Afghan police. Millay remained in Alaska as part of the company’s rear detachment during the current deployment. The battalion’s headquarters were moved from Germany to Alaska in 2010.

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