A former CIA analyst pled guilty in federal court this week to stealing and leaking secret Israeli retaliation against the terrorist country of Iran. Asif William Rahman, 34, of Vienna, had been employed by the agency since 2016 and had a Top-Secret security clearance with access to extremely sensitive data. Rahman stole and distributed Israeli plans to seek revenge against Iran. He was arrested after being indicted by a grand jury back in November.
He has pleaded guilty to two charges of willful retention and transmission of classified information related to the national defense and remains in federal custody. If he is found guilty he faces a maximum punishment of twenty years in prison.
The DOJ continued:
After Oct. 17, 2024, Rahman deleted and edited journal entries and written work product on his personal electronic devices to conceal his personal opinions on U.S. policy and drafted entries to construct a false narrative regarding his activity. Rahman also destroyed multiple electronic devices, including a personal mobile device and an internet router he used to transmit classified information and photographs of classified documents, and discarded the destroyed devices in public trash receptacles in an effort to thwart potential investigations into him and his unlawful conduct.
Beginning in the spring of 2024 and continuing through November 2024, Rahman repeatedly accessed and printed classified National Defense Information, including documents classified up to the Top Secret level, to take them to his residence. There, Rahman reproduced the documents and, while doing so, altered them in an effort to conceal their source and his activity. Rahman then communicated Top Secret information that he learned in the course of his employment to multiple individuals he knew were not entitled to receive it.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said:
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL“Mr. Rahman betrayed the trust of the American people by unlawfully sharing classified national defense information he swore an oath to protect. Today’s guilty plea demonstrates that the Justice Department will spare no effort to swiftly find and aggressively prosecute those who harm the United States by illegally disclosing our national security secrets.”
