An ex-CIA analyst was sentenced to more than three years in prison Wednesday for leaking top-secret documents about Israel’s plans to retaliate against Iran last year.
Asif William Rahman, 34, had pleaded guilty in January to two counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information after he was arrested for absconding with records from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency last October that indicated Israel was planning to launch airstrikes in response to a massive Iranian missile attack.
Rahman, who had been a CIA employee since 2016 and had access to top secret documents, leaked the stolen information on social media platforms — forcing Israel to delay its attack.
He was sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison by US District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles, which is less than the government had demanded.
“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,” US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Erik Siebert said in a statement.
“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.”
Rahman was working in the US Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Oct. 17, 2024, when he sneaked the documents out in his backpack, brought them to his home, photographed them and then transmitted them to other individuals, before destroying evidence of his actions, according to the Justice Department.
The top-secret documents appeared on the “Middle East Spectator” Telegram channel the following day and “appeared publicly on multiple social media platforms, complete with the classification ranking,” prosecutors said.
The documents laid out intelligence gathered from satellite images of an Israeli base taken on Oct. 15 and 16.
The breach forced Israeli officials to postpone their attack until Oct. 26.
Rahman “repeatedly accessed and printed classified National Defense Information” up until his arrest in November of 2024, according to the DOJ.
In the spring of 2024, when he was working in Virginia as a CIA analyst, he disclosed a batch of five secret and top-secret documents, making copies and giving them to people who weren’t allowed to see them. And in the fall of 2024, he leaked another 10 classified documents.
“I fully accept responsibility for my conduct last year,” Rahman said in court Wednesday, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. “There was no excuse for my actions.”
Rahman’s attorneys blamed his actions on “family-related grief” and traumatic assignment in Iraq, compounded by Israel’s war against Hamas.
