A CIA agent is accused of espionage over the leak of highly classified documents detailing Israeli military plans. According to the New York Times, the investigation began in October, when classified documents appeared on the Telegram messaging platform National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and of National Security Agency. The two critical leaked documents concerned Israel’s plans to retaliate against Iran after Tehran launched its missile attack on the Jewish state on October 1. The attack forced Israel’s entire civilian population to take refuge, with alarms ringing across the country and explosions heard in Jerusalem and the Jordan River Valley. Despite the scale of the assault, Israel emerged with only two reported injuries among its civilian population. Federal investigators traced the leak to Asif William Rahmanwho held a top secret security clearance with access to compartmentalized sensitive information. While its exact role at the NGA remains unclear, the agency is responsible for collecting and analyzing information from U.S. spy satellites for the Department of Defense.
After an indictment in federal court in Virginia, FBI agents located and arrested Rahman in Cambodia on Tuesday. Subsequently after appearing in court in Guam, where he was charged with two counts of knowingly possessing and transmitting National Defense Information by order of the Court and his expulsion from the District of Guam for further hearings in the Eastern District of Virginia. All that is known about Rahman is that he worked abroad for the CIA in Cambodia and elsewhere but it is not known what kind of work he did for the agency. Rahman previously lived in eastern Virginia, according to court charging documents.
In October, two leaked classified reports from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which analyzes images collected by American reconnaissance satellites, appeared on Telegram and X. The files were circulated by a pro-Iran account, Middle East Spectator, which claims to have received them from an anonymous source. As the Wall Street Journal wrote, the leak sparked a race within US spy agencies, which have undergone a series of significant unauthorized disclosures in recent years, to identify the source of the breach. Officials were concerned about the possibility of further disclosures, although it appears the leak was limited to the original documents. Prosecutors say the leak may have been intentional, perhaps motivated by personal or ideological reasons, although further details about its intentions remain unclear. As the investigation proceeds, the FBI is working to ascertain the methods by which Rahman obtained the information and to address potential gaps in the intelligence community’s safeguarding of classified materials. The timing of Rahman’s arrest coincided with another significant development in U.S. intelligence security. Former Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira received a 15-year prison sentence on Tuesday for leaking classified military documents about the war in Ukraine on Discord, a case that prosecutors described as “one of the most significant violations and consequences of the Espionage Act in American history.”
According to the American analyst Irina Tsukerman this is a very worrying episode: «It can be confirmed that Asif William Rahman had a top secret security clearance and had access to sensitive compartmented documents and other information. His act was pre-planned and intentional, and is very different from the more general security leaks we have become accustomed to over the past decade, starting with Edward Snowden. His act is not a general manifesto against the security agencies, the intelligence environment or the US government, but a specific violation of a concrete policy.”
Is it understood on behalf of whoever disclosed the documents?
«It is not yet known whether he acted on the orders of some foreign power or in concert with others, but this premeditated act was carried out at the risk of ending his career and incurring a long prison term. There are some interesting observations to make about this scenario. First, his arrest follows an FBI investigation inside the Pentagon, initially accused of being behind the leak. Although the investigation is still in its early stages, it is increasingly likely that there is a link between Pentagon officials and the CIA agent. It is certainly possible that some Pentagon official or group of officials somehow coordinated the leak with Rahman. Such an operation within the agency could lend credence to a growing chorus of concern about a cabal of highly ideological fanatics who have infiltrated the US national security apparatus to subvert official state policies.”
You have repeatedly denounced the politicization of American security agencies and we ask you if this matter also fits into this context.
“Rahman’s actions, while clearly his, should not be viewed in isolation from this process that has been underway since 2009, the year Obama took office. For a decade and a half, US government agencies have undergone careful restructuring; intelligence has been politicized, dismissed or falsified; cadres of ideologically motivated employees bolstered the ranks of existing ‘career workers’, and high-level instructions distorted internal processes to ignore obvious red flags and pursue policies and policies rather than gather intelligence information and inform policymakers. So, among the problems starting at the top, with people like Jake Sullivan officially working to subvert some of Biden’s policies regarding Israel, the retention of Iran-linked agents of influence like Tabatabai, and the dozens of young officers of the intelligence trained to believe that their judgment matters as much as their work in intelligence gathering, and that part of their mission is to act on their assessments rather than provide information and, at best, recommendations, it is not surprising that some how Rahman overstepped the bounds of the law, violated his national security duties and NDAs, and leaked information that placed both a key U.S. ally and U.S. intelligence in grave danger.”
How is it possible that all this happens within the CIA?
«The CIA is a huge bureaucracy and is by no means perfect. At any given time there will be many concerted efforts to infiltrate, steal documentation, bribe or recruit its employees, and disrupt operations. It’s normal for this to be the case; given the large number of employees, it is inevitable that some of these attempts will be successful. However, there are several tricks to prevent adversary efforts from being successful. Reducing staff to the bare minimum and avoiding ‘filling’ the agency with paper makes it easier to keep track of individual employees. Establishing and enforcing counterintelligence protocols and abandoning inconvenient, politically correct concerns could help eliminate ‘bad seeds’. Finally, the fact that the internal culture is breeding people like Rahman and that many others probably share his mentality, even if not all have yet dared to cross the line, implies the need for an overhaul, both in terms of technical processes and considerations on hiring employees. An Agency prone to ideologues and leaks cannot be taken seriously by either allies or friends. Such incidents will cost the United States valuable interagency cooperation with close allies and contribute to a less secure environment.”
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