CIA officer accused of leaking classified information about Israeli attack plans to be indicted in Virginia

This image provided by the Guam Department of Corrections shows Asif William Rahman, who worked for the US government, was arrested by the FBI in Cambodia and is now accused of leaking classified information assessing previous Israeli attack plans against Iran. (Guam Department of Corrections via AP)

WASHINGTON — A CIA employee accused of leaking classified information assessing earlier Israeli attack plans against Iran was sentenced Thursday by a federal judge to face felony charges in Virginia.

The FBI arrested Asif William Rahman in Cambodia this week and had his first hearing in Guam on Thursday. A judge there ordered him transferred to northern Virginia; He was indicted there last week on two counts of knowingly concealing and transmitting national defense information.

Court documents do not identify the federal agency that hired him, but a person familiar with the case who was not authorized to discuss it publicly confirmed to The Associated Press that it was the CIA.

The indictment does not go into details of the allegations, but it is stated that Rahman had a top-secret security clearance and access to sensitive compartmentalized information. The court accuses him of unauthorized possession and illegal sharing of top-secret documents related to national defense information.

It is not yet clear who will represent Rahman in Virginia and speak on his behalf.

The accusations stem from documents attributed to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency and published last month in a channel on the Telegram messaging app. The documents state that Israel continues to move military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran’s violent ballistic missile attack on October 1.

Israel launched a retaliatory attack on air defense systems and missile production facilities in Iran in late October.

Documents could be shared within the “Five Eyes” consisting of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

The discovery of the documents triggered an FBI investigation examining how the documents were obtained (including whether they were intentionally leaked by a member of the U.S. intelligence community or obtained through some other method, such as hacking) and whether any other intelligence information was compromised. .

Authorities also worked to determine who had access to the documents before they were released.