The FBI has arrested a CIA official accused of leaking classified documents on Israel’s preparations for a strike against Iran, according to reports.
The suspect was identified by the media as Asif William Rahman. He was taken into custody in Cambodia on Tuesday and is due to appear before a court in Guam on Thursday. The New York Times was the first to report the story on Wednesday, with other outlets later confirming it.
Last month, as Israel was preparing long-range strikes against Iranian targets in a tit-for-tat response to an earlier attack by Tehran, documents that appeared to originate from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) appeared in a Telegram channel. The US service is responsible for collecting and analyzing satellite and aerial imagery.
The materials detailed the movement of Israeli military assets and made predictions about the planned attack. They were reportedly shareable with members of the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance, which includes Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and the US.
Rahman had top-level security clearance to sensitive compartmented information, reports said, citing court documents. A federal court in Virginia indicted him last week on two counts of willful transmission of national defense information. The FBI previously confirmed conducting an investigation into the leak.
Israel conducted its operation against Iran on October 26, almost a month after the Iranian strike on the Jewish state. Tehran’s attack on October had come in retaliation for the assassinations of leaders of pro-Palestinian militant groups, including on Iranian soil, which the Iranian government blamed on West Jerusalem. The escalation took place in the context of the Israeli military operation in Gaza, which was triggered by an incursion by the armed group Hamas in October 2023, and cross-border clashes with the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Earlier this week, a court in Boston sentenced former US Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira to 15 years in prison for disclosing classified documents about the Ukraine conflict. In March, he pleaded guilty to six counts of willful transmission of secret information under the Espionage Act.