Search

CIA agent arrested for leaking Israeli Iran attack info

Asif W. Rahman was arrested in Cambodia and indicted under the Espionage Act.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

A CIA agent was arrested by the FBI Tuesday for leaking highly classified information on Israel’s planned attack on Iran following the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile barrage on the Jewish state on October 1st.

Asif W. Rahman was arrested in Cambodia and brought to federal court in Guam to be charged under the Espionage Act with two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information.

Rahman had top-secret security clearance, which would allow him to see the classified files that included satellite photos of possible target sites, which were prepared mid-month by the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

According to CNN, one of the documents also indicated that Israel has nuclear weapons, something that the Jewish state has never confirmed, preferring to keep the extremely sensitive issue officially ambiguous.

They were marked “top secret” and for viewing by the “Five Eyes” allies only, namely the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

The leak occurred “on or about October 17,” the indictment said, with the documents appearing on a Telegram account called “Middle East Spectator,” which is operated out of Iran and is used to propagate the regime’s messaging.

Read  Iran planning unprecedented attack if Israel retaliates for ballistic missiles - report

The account said that it had received the documents anonymously and could not authenticate their contents.

“It is very troubling to know that a CIA officer may have been involved in leaking this highly classified information,” Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, told The New York Post.

“Everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence, but if true, this is a serious security breach and there is no excuse for it,” he added.

The Americans apologized to Israel after the leak was discovered and immediately opened an investigation to find those responsible.

In the event, the leak seemingly did not affect the eventual Israeli retaliation on October 26, in which more than 120 planes and UAVs attacked sites throughout Iran and destroyed its most advanced anti-missile systems and most of its air defenses, as well as military facilities that produced vital ballistic missile components and mixed solid fuel for the missiles.

The Justice Department has asked that Rahman’s trial be moved to the federal court in Virginia.