The Justice Department released the below information yesterday:
A former CIA analyst was sentenced today to 37 months in prison
for unlawfully retaining and transmitting Top Secret National Defense
Information to people who were not entitled to receive it, information which
was publicly posted on social media platforms in October 2024.
According to
court documents, Asif William Rahman, 34, of Vienna, was an employee of the CIA
since 2016 and had a Top Secret security clearance with access to Sensitive
Compartmented Information (SCI) until his employment was terminated after his
arrest.
“For months,
this defendant betrayed the American people and the oaths he took upon entering
his office by leaking some of our Nation’s most closely held secrets,” said
John Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “As this case
demonstrates, the Department of Justice will continue to protect our nation by
vigorously investigating and prosecuting leakers who compromise our nation’s
security.”
“Asif Rahman
violated his position of trust by illegally accessing, removing, and
transmitting Top Secret documents vital to the national security of the United
States and its allies,” said Erik S. Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern
District of Virginia. “The urgency with which Mr. Rahman was identified,
arrested, charged, and prosecuted is a testament to the commitment and
professionalism of the investigators and prosecutors who brought him to
justice. This case should serve as a stern warning to those who choose to place
their own goals over their allegiance to our nation.”
“By stealing and
divulging classified information and then attempting to conceal his crimes,
Asif Rahman not only violated the law; he also betrayed his oath as a
government employee and his responsibility to the American people,” said
Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.
“Now he will pay the price for putting American lives and U.S. national
security at risk. Let this be a warning to all clearance holders: The FBI will
exhaust all avenues to find and bring to justice anyone — no matter who they
are — who endangers our nation by disclosing sensitive information without
authorization."
On Oct. 17,
2024, Rahman accessed and printed two Top Secret documents containing National
Defense Information regarding a U.S. foreign ally and its planned actions
against a foreign adversary. Rahman removed the documents, photographed them,
and transmitted them to individuals he knew were not entitled to receive
them. By Oct. 18, 2024, the documents appeared publicly on multiple
social media platforms, complete with the classification markings. After Oct.
17, 2024, Rahman engaged in a deletion campaign of work product on his Top
Secret work station.
In 2024,
continuing through November, Rahman repeatedly accessed and printed classified
National Defense Information, including documents classified up to the Top
Secret and further compartmented levels, that he learned in the course of his
employment and transmitted to multiple individuals he knew were not entitled to
receive it.
Rahman was
indicted by a grand jury on Nov. 7, 2024, and was arrested by the FBI as he
arrived to work on Nov. 12, 2024. On Jan. 17, Rahman pleaded guilty to two
counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information related
to the national defense. He has remained in custody since his arrest.
The FBI
Washington Field Office investigated the case.
Assistant U.S.
Attorney Troy A. Edwards Jr. for the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial
Attorney Christopher Cook of the National Security Division’s
Counterintelligence and Export Control Section prosecuted the case.
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