An ex-CIA analyst was sentenced to greater than three years in jail Wednesday for leaking top-secret paperwork about Israel’s plans to retaliate in opposition to Iran final yr.
Asif William Rahman, 34, had pleaded responsible in January to 2 counts of willful retention and transmission of labeled info after he was arrested for absconding with information from the Nationwide Geospatial-Intelligence Company final October that indicated Israel was planning to launch airstrikes in response to an enormous Iranian missile assault.
Rahman, who had been a CIA worker since 2016 and had entry to high secret paperwork, leaked the stolen info on social media platforms — forcing Israel to delay its assault.
He was sentenced to 3 years and one month in federal jail by US District Decide Patricia Tolliver Giles, which is lower than the federal government had demanded.
“Asif Rahman violated his place of belief by illegally accessing, eradicating, and transmitting Prime Secret paperwork very important to the nationwide safety of america and its allies,” US Lawyer for the Japanese District of Virginia Erik Siebert mentioned in an announcement.
“The urgency with which Mr. Rahman was recognized, arrested, charged, and prosecuted is a testomony to the dedication and professionalism of the investigators and prosecutors who introduced him to justice.
“This case ought to function a stern warning to those that select to position their very own targets over their allegiance to our nation.”
Rahman was working within the US Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Oct. 17, 2024, when he sneaked the paperwork out in his backpack, introduced them to his dwelling, photographed them after which transmitted them to different people, earlier than destroying proof of his actions, in response to the Justice Division.
The highest-secret paperwork appeared on the “Center East Spectator” Telegram channel the next day and “appeared publicly on a number of social media platforms, full with the classification rating,” prosecutors mentioned.
The paperwork laid out intelligence gathered from satellite tv for pc photographs of an Israeli base taken on Oct. 15 and 16.
The breach compelled Israeli officers to postpone their assault till Oct. 26.
Rahman “repeatedly accessed and printed labeled Nationwide Protection Data” up till his arrest in November of 2024, in response to the DOJ.
Within the spring of 2024, when he was working in Virginia as a CIA analyst, he disclosed a batch of 5 secret and top-secret paperwork, making copies and giving them to individuals who weren’t allowed to see them. And within the fall of 2024, he leaked one other 10 labeled paperwork.
“I absolutely settle for duty for my conduct final yr,” Rahman mentioned in court docket Wednesday, in response to the Cincinnati Enquirer. “There was no excuse for my actions.”
Rahman’s attorneys blamed his actions on “family-related grief” and traumatic project in Iraq, compounded by Israel’s conflict in opposition to Hamas.
