CIA official charged with leaking Israel's plans to retaliate against Iran
A CIA official has been charged with leaking Israel's plans to retaliate against Iran for a missile attack last year.
Asif W. Rahman was indicted last week in Virginia and was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday in Cambodia, as reported by The New York Times.
He was taken to Guam to face federal charges under the Espionage Act - two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information - and is expected to appear in court there Thursday.
Rahman is accused of leaking documents that included highly classified information and detailed interpretations of satellite imagery that gave insight into a possible Israeli strike in Iran.
The documents reportedly began circulating last month on Telegram.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran, October 23
Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets fired by the Islamic Republic, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, on October 1
A general view of Tehran after several explosions were heard in Tehran on October 26, 2024. Israel announced the launch of 'precise strikes' on military targets in Iran
US officials had previously said they did not know the source of the leak and were looking into it.
Rahman held a top secret security clearance and had access to sensitive compartmentalized information.
The documents are attributed to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency and were sharable within the 'Five Eyes,' which are the US, Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
One of the two documents resembled the style of other material from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency leaked by Jack Teixeira, an Air National Guardsman who pleaded guilty in March to leaking highly classified military documents about Russia’s war on Ukraine and other national security secrets.
The Telegram channel involved in the leak identifies itself as being based in Tehran, Iran’s capital. It previously published memes featuring Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and material in support of Tehran’s self-described 'Axis of Resistance,' which includes Middle East militant groups armed by the Islamic Republic.
Netanyahu promised to exact retribution on Iran following a ballistic missile strike on Israel by the Islamic Republic on October 1
Last month Israel attacked several military targets in Iran in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired on Israel weeks earlier.
It was the first time Israel’s military has openly attacked Iran.
Iran had earlier fired a wave of missiles and drones at Israel, causing minimal damage, after two Iranian generals were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike on an Iranian diplomatic post in Syria.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14077833/CIA-official-charged-leaking-Israel-plans-against-Iran.html
Retired Israel Defense Forces Brigadier General Amir Avivi warned that the leak could have repercussions on Israel-US relations, as the Jewish state places great trust in America when it shares its plans.
“I think it’s crucial that Israel knows that when they give information or the transformation, it’s not leaked, and there must be strong trust [that intel is going] to be treated the way it should be treated,” Avivi told The Post. “It’s a very serious event.”
Retired Gen. Jack Keane, a former US Army vice chief of staff and chairman of the Institute for the Study of War, said it was “outrageous” that a government employee with high clearance was behind the leak.
In the wake of his arrest, Mick Mulroy — the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East — stressed that safeguarding such materials should be the “highest priority” for an intelligence agency or employee.
“It is very troubling to know that a CIA officer may have been involved in leaking this highly classified information.”
'This is a serious security breach and there is no excuse for it.”
“This protection is critical to protecting the sources and methods of our intelligence collection and covert operations rely,” he added.
A big revelation in the documents was about Israel having nuclear weapons, something the country has never confirmed.
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