Former CIA employee pleads guilty to leaking files on Israel’s Iran strikes

The U.S. Department of Justice stated on Friday that a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee, Asif William Rahman, pleaded guilty to two counts of "willfully retaining and transmitting classified national defense information." Rahman was accused of leaking classified documents about Israel's planned attacks on Iran last year, at a time when Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon were escalating regional tensions.

According to the plea agreement, Rahman is scheduled to be sentenced on May 15th and faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for each count. Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen stated in a statement, "Mr. Rahman illegally shared classified national defense information that he had sworn to protect, betraying the trust of the American people."

Olsen also emphasized, "Today's guilty plea demonstrates that the Department of Justice will spare no effort to quickly locate and aggressively prosecute those who endanger the United States by illegally disclosing our national security secrets." The FBI arrested Rahman in Cambodia in November. The U.S. government stated that he had been a CIA employee since 2016 and held top-secret security clearance.

According to U.S. media reports, U.S. officials at the time accused Rahman of leaking documents prepared by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). This agency is responsible for analyzing images and information collected by U.S. spy satellites and providing support for covert U.S. military operations. The leaked documents appeared on a Telegram messaging app channel in October, indicating that Israel was mobilizing military assets in response to Iran's October 1st ballistic missile attack.

Iran stated that these launches were retaliation for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the Iranian capital, and the killing of a senior Iranian military official. Israel conducted attacks on multiple sites in Iran in late October. The Department of Justice cited court documents stating that Rahman accessed and printed two documents marked "Top Secret" containing national defense information about "the planned operations of a U.S. foreign ally against a foreign adversary." "Rahman took those documents, photographed them, and transmitted them to people he knew were not authorized to receive the information," the Department of Justice stated.