A former analyst working for the U.S. Central Intelligence Company (CIA) pleaded responsible to transmitting prime secret Nationwide Protection Info (NDI) to people who didn’t have the mandatory authorization to obtain it and tried to cowl up the exercise.
Asif William Rahman, 34, of Vienna, was an worker of the CIA since 2016 and had a High Secret safety clearance with entry to Delicate Compartmented Info (SCI). He was charged with two counts of unlawfully transmitting NDI in November 2024 following his arrest.
He has pleaded responsible to 2 counts of willful retention and transmission of labeled data associated to the nationwide protection. He’s anticipated to be sentenced on Might 15, 2025, probably dealing with a most penalty of 10 years in jail.
In response to court docket filings, Rahman is alleged to have retained with out authorization two paperwork labeled as High Secret on or about October 17, 2024, and delivered it to a number of people who weren’t entitled to obtain it.
“Within the spring of 2024, the defendant accessed and printed from his workstation roughly 5 paperwork. These paperwork had been labeled on the Secret and High Secret degree,” court docket paperwork filed on January 17, 2025, reveal. “The defendant transported these supplies outdoors of his place of employment and to his residence by concealing these supplies inside a backpack.”
“From his residence within the Japanese District of Virginia, the defendant reproduced the paperwork and, whereas doing so, altered them in an effort to hide their supply and his exercise. The defendant then communicated High Secret data he realized in the middle of his employment to a number of people he knew weren’t entitled to obtain it. He additionally transmitted the reproductions of the Secret and High Secret paperwork to a number of people he knew weren’t entitled to obtain them.”
Rahman can also be stated to have shared an extra 10 paperwork labeled on the High Secret degree in an identical method within the fall of 2024. Then on October 17, he printed two extra High Secret paperwork pertaining to a United States ally and its deliberate kinetic actions in opposition to a overseas adversary.
The defendant then proceeded to {photograph} these paperwork from his residence and used a pc program to edit the photographs. The paperwork had been then shared with unspecified individuals who weren’t alleged to them. These people are believed to have shared the knowledge with others, finally inflicting the paperwork to look on a number of social media platforms on October 18.
Whereas the names of the nations weren’t disclosed, a number of reviews from Axios and CNN revealed round that point that the discharge was linked to Israel’s plans to assault Iran. The paperwork, ready by the Nationwide Geospatial-Intelligence Company and the Nationwide Safety Company, had been posted on Telegram by an account referred to as Center East Spectator.
Rahman has additionally been accused of deleting the recordsdata and altering journal entries and written work merchandise on his private digital gadgets in an effort to hide his private opinions on U.S. coverage. He additional drafted entries to color a false, seemingly benign narrative relating to his deletion of data on his private gadget and the CIA workstation.
“Authorities staff who’re granted safety clearances and given entry to our nation’s labeled data should promise to guard it,” stated Government Assistant Director Robert Wells of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Nationwide Safety Department. “Rahman blatantly violated that pledge and took a number of steps to cover his actions.”
Philippines Arrests Chinese language Nationwide and a pair of Filipinos for Espionage
The event comes because the Philippines’ Nationwide Bureau of Investigation (NBI) disclosed the arrest of a Chinese language nationwide and two Filipino residents suspected of conducting surveillance on crucial infrastructure amenities for over a month.
The three people, Deng Yuanqing, Ronel Jojo Balundo Besa and Jayson Amado Fernandez, are a part of a bunch consisting of six members who have interaction in surveillance operations by unlawfully acquiring delicate data associated to nationwide protection. The remaining three members, two {hardware} engineers and a financier (aka Wang), are presently in China, the company added.
Deng, per the NBI, is a software program engineer with specialization in automation and management engineering and is allegedly affiliated with the PLA College Science and Know-how, a Nanjing-based tutorial establishment below the management of China’s Folks’s Liberation Military (PLA).
The investigation additionally uncovered {that a} white automobile was procured and fitted with data and communications expertise (ICT) gear in order to facilitate the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) operation.
“From December 13, 2024 to January 16, 2025, topic automobile was monitored traversing back and forth the Nationwide Capital Area and the overall divisions of Luzon, conducting detailed scouting, collating complete picture of the terrains and buildings and the over-all topography of the potential targets, with out consent and authority from the Philippine Authorities,” the NBI stated.
The company additionally famous that an onsite search led to the invention of a Chinese language character consumer account with gadget ID 918 452 619 controlling the pc system inside the topic automobile, such because the transportable keyboard, recordsdata, and cameras.
The Philippines has been a goal of a number of Chinese language menace actors in recent times, primarily pushed by geopolitical tensions in Southeast Asia over ongoing territorial disputes within the South China Sea.
