Asif William Rahman has pleaded guilty to transmitting classified national defense information, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
A former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official pleaded guilty last year to leaking classified documents about Israel’s plan to attack Iran at a time of heightened regional tensions related to Israel’s wars on Gaza and Lebanon.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced in a statement Friday that Asif William Rahman, 34, has pleaded guilty to two counts of “intentional retention and transmission of classified information” related to national defense.
According to the plea agreement, he is scheduled to be sentenced on May 15 and could face up to 10 years in prison on both charges.
“Mr. Rahman violated the trust of the American people by illegally sharing classified national defense information that he was sworn to protect,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said in a statement.
“Today’s guilty pleas demonstrate that the Department of Justice will spare no effort to expeditiously identify and aggressively prosecute those who harm the United States by unlawfully disclosing national security secrets. .”
The FBI arrested Rahman in Cambodia in November, who the U.S. government says has been a CIA employee since 2016 and had a top-secret security clearance.
US media reported at the time that US officials accused him of leaking documents prepared by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), which analyzes images and information collected by US spy satellites.
NGA also operates in support of U.S. military covert operations.
The document, posted in October on the messaging app Telegram channel, states that Israel is moving military assets to carry out military strikes in response to Iran’s October 1 ballistic missile attack. It had been.
Iran said the launches were carried out in retaliation for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and the killing of a senior Iranian military official in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
In late October, Israel carried out its own attacks against multiple Iranian sites.
The Justice Department said Friday, citing court documents, that Rahman had accessed and printed two documents marked “Top Secret” containing defense information “relating to planned actions against foreign allies and foreign adversaries of the United States.” did.
“Rahman deleted the documents, photographed them, and sent them to individuals he knew were not entitled to receive them,” the department said.