Former analyst working for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) pleaded guilty to the transfer of top secret national defense information (NDI) to persons who did not have the necessary permission to receive it and tried to hide the activity.
Asif William Rahman, 34, of Vienna, had been a CIA operative since 2016 and had a Top Secret clearance with access to classified classified information (SCI). He was is charged on two counts of illegal transfer of NDI in November 2024 after his arrest.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of willful possession and transmission of classified information related to national defense. He is expected to be sentenced on May 15, 2025, and could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
According to court sawdustRahman is alleged to have kept two documents marked “Top Secret” without permission on October 17, 2024. or thereabouts and gave them to several persons who had no right to receive them.
“In the spring of 2024, the defendant accessed and printed approximately five documents from his workstation. Those documents were marked “Secret” and “Top Secret,” according to a court filing filed on Jan. 17, 2025. “The accused transported these materials outside the workplace and to his residence, hiding them in a backpack.”
“From his residence in the Eastern District of Virginia, the defendant reproduced the documents and, in doing so, altered them in an attempt to conceal their source and his activities. The accused then passed on top secret information that he had learned during his work. to many persons who, as he knew, had no right to receive them.
Rahman is also said to have shared an additional 10 documents classified as Top Secret in the fall of 2024. Then on October 17, he printed two more “Top Secret” documents concerning the US ally and its planned kinetic actions. against a foreign enemy.
Defendant then photographed these documents from his home and used a computer program to edit the images. The documents were then handed over to unidentified persons who did not belong to them. These individuals are believed to have shared the information with others, resulting in the documents appearing on several social media platforms on October 18.
While the names of the countries have not been revealed, several reports from Axios and CNN Around that time, it was discovered that the release was linked to Israel’s plans to attack Iran. The documents, prepared by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, were published on Telegram by an account called Middle East Spectator.
Rahman was also accused of deleting files and altering journal entries and written work on his personal electronic devices to hide his personal views on US politics. He went on to write notes to paint a false, seemingly benign narrative regarding his deletion of records on his personal device and CIA workstation.
“Government employees who are granted clearances and access to our nation’s classified information must pledge to protect it,” said FBI National Security Division Executive Assistant Director Robert Wells. “Rahman blatantly broke that promise and took several steps to cover up his actions.”
A Chinese citizen and 2 Filipinos were arrested in the Philippines for espionage
The development comes after the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) disclosed the arrest of a Chinese national and two Filipino nationals suspected of monitoring critical infrastructure facilities for over a month.
The three individuals, Deng Yuanqing, Ronel Jojo Balunda Bessa, and Jason Amado Fernandez, are part of a six-member group involved in surveillance operations, illegally obtaining sensitive information related to national defense. The other three members, two hardware engineers and a financier (alias Wang), are currently in China, the agency added.
According to the NBI, Deng is a software engineer specializing in automation and control and is believed to be affiliated with the PLA University of Science and Technology, an academic institution in Nanjing controlled by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (NOA).
Investigation also revealed that the white colored vehicle was procured and equipped with information and communication technology (ICT) equipment to facilitate an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operation.
“From December 13, 2024 until January 16, 2025. “surveillance was conducted on a vehicle that crossed the national capital area and the general divisions of Luzon, conducting a detailed reconnaissance, matching a comprehensive picture of the terrain and structures, and the general terrain of potential targets, without the consent and authority of the Philippine government,” the NBI reported. said.
The agency also noted that an on-site search led to the discovery of a user account in Chinese characters with device ID 918 452 619 that controls the computer system inside the vehicle, such as a portable keyboard, files and cameras.
In recent years, the Philippines has been the target of several Chinese threat actors, mainly motivated geopolitical tension Art Southeast Asia due to long-standing territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
