The FBI charged CIA officer Asif Rahman on Tuesday for leaking highly classified documents about Israel’s plan to retaliate against Iran for its missile attack earlier this year.
The incident underscores concern the CIA needs reform due to the perception by critics it often allegedly operates outside the scope of the national interest.
The New York Times’s Adam Goldman and Seamus Hughes first reported the charges against Rahman, who the FBI arrested on two counts of violating the Espionage Act:
The documents were prepared by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which analyzes images and information collected by U.S. spy satellites. It conducts work in support of clandestine and military operations.
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The information in the documents is highly classified and details interpretations of satellite imagery that shed light on a possible strike by Israel on Iran. They began circulating last month on the Telegram app. U.S. officials have previously said that they did not know from where the documents had been taken, and that they were looking for the original source of the leak.
Court documents said Mr. Rahman held a top secret security clearance with access to sensitive compartmentalized information, which is typical for many C.I.A. employees who handle classified materials.
The FBI acknowledged in October that it began investigating the leak. More on the investigation is here.
Before the arrest of Rahman, some tried to blame without evidence an Iranian American Pentagon official for the leak. Fox News’s Jennifer Griffin reported on those allegations:
Fox News has confirmed the alleged leaker of Israeli war planning Asif Rahman was arrested in Cambodia and reportedly worked for the CIA not DOD. A reminder that those who reported without evidence that Iranian American Pentagon official Ariane Tabatabai who had worked in SOLIC was responsible for the leak should correct the record. She has been maligned repeatedly without evidence. We reported as much at the time.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
