By WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (AfrikTimes) – A CIA employee accused of leaking classified documents about Israel’s plans to strike Iran pleaded guilty on Friday to criminal charges of willfully retaining and transmitting national defense information, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
Asif William Rahman, who had worked at the U.S. intelligence agency since 2016, admitted in court that he illegally downloaded, printed, and distributed classified information on multiple occasions, including several in 2024. According to court records, in the spring of 2024, Rahman printed five documents labeled as secret and top secret from his work computer, took them home, reproduced and altered them, and shared them with individuals not legally entitled to receive them. To conceal his actions, he deleted his activity from his electronic devices, returned the documents to work, and had them shredded.
The logo of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is shown in the lobby of the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia March 3, 2005.
In the autumn of 2024, Rahman printed another 10 top-secret documents, took them home, and shared them with others, court filings indicated. On October 17, 2024, he printed two additional documents related to plans by a U.S. ally to strike a foreign adversary, the records stated.
The documents, which contained plans by Israel to strike Iran, were later published online by a pro-Iranian Telegram account called “Middle East Spectator.” The case is being filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Rahman, 34, from Vienna, Virginia, was arrested in Cambodia, according to court records. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 15.
