A former CIA analyst pleaded guilty in federal court in Virginia on Friday to charges that he leaked classified information about Israeli plans to attack Iran.
Asif William Rahman, 34, of Vienna, Virginia, was arrested in Cambodia last year and later flown to Guam. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on each of two charges: maintaining and disseminating classified information related to national defense.
Rehman had been working for the intelligence agency since 2016 and had a top-secret security clearance.
Prosecutors said Rahman illegally downloaded and printed classified documents at work and then took the documents home, where he altered items to disguise the source of the information before distributing it.
The secret information was eventually published on the Telegram social media platform.
A Justice Department statement said that beginning in the spring of 2024 and lasting through November, Rahman shared “top-secret information” learned in the course of his employment “with multiple individuals whom he knew to be Didn’t deserve to receive it.”
“Government employees who are granted security clearance and given access to our nation’s classified information must promise to protect it,” Robert Wells, executive assistant director of the FBI’s National Security Branch, said in a statement Friday.
“Rahman openly violated that pledge and took several steps to conceal his actions. Wells said, “The FBI will use all of our resources to investigate and hold accountable those who illegally disseminate classified information and jeopardize our nation’s national security interests.”
The Justice Department said Rahman deleted journal entries and written work products on his personal electronic devices “to conceal his personal opinions on U.S. policy and to draft entries to create a false story about his activity.” Did it. They also destroyed several other electronic devices, including an Internet router, which the Justice Department said Rahman used to transmit “classified information and photographs of classified documents, and to thwart potential investigations against him and others.” In an attempt to do so, the destroyed equipment was thrown into a public dustbin.” Unlawful conduct.”
The Associated Press reported that Rahman was born in California but grew up in Cincinnati and graduated from Yale University after only three years.
Rahman is scheduled to be sentenced on May 15.
Some information for this report was received from Associated Press and Reuters.
