By SDCN Editor
A former CIA analyst pleaded guilty Friday to retaining and transmitting Top Secret National Defense Information to people who were not entitled to receive it, information which was publicly posted on a social media platform in October 2024.
According to court documents, Asif William Rahman, 34, of Vienna, has been an employee of the CIA since 2016 and had a Top-Secret security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI).
“Mr. Rahman betrayed the trust of the American people by unlawfully sharing classified national defense information he swore an oath to protect,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “Today’s guilty plea demonstrates that the Justice Department will spare no effort to swiftly find and aggressively prosecute those who harm the United States by illegally disclosing our national security secrets.”
According to court documents, on Oct. 17, 2024, Rahman accessed and printed two Top Secret documents containing National Defense Information regarding a U.S. foreign ally and its planned actions against a foreign adversary. Rahman removed the documents, photographed them, and transmitted them to individuals he knew were not entitled to receive them. By Oct. 18, 2024, the documents appeared publicly on multiple social media platforms, complete with the classification markings.
After Oct. 17, 2024, Rahman deleted and edited journal entries and written work products on his electronic devices to conceal his personal opinions on U.S. policy and drafted entries to construct a false narrative regarding his activity. Rahman also destroyed multiple electronic devices, including a personal mobile device and an internet router he used to transmit classified information and photographs of classified documents, and discarded the destroyed devices in public trash receptacles to thwart potential investigations into him and his unlawful conduct.
“With today’s plea, Asif Rahman acknowledges he betrayed the trust of his country by sharing classified information despite the risk to the United States and our allies,” said Executive Assistant Director Robert Wells of the FBI’s National Security Branch. “Government employees who are granted security clearances and given access to our nation’s classified information must promise to protect it. Rahman blatantly violated that pledge and took multiple steps to hide his actions. The FBI will use all our resources to investigate and hold accountable those who illegally transmit classified information and endanger the national security interests of our country.”
Beginning in the spring of 2024 and continuing through November 2024, Rahman repeatedly accessed and printed classified National Defense Information, including documents classified up to the Top Secret level, to take them to his residence. There, Rahman reproduced the documents and, while doing so, altered them to conceal their source and his activity. Rahman then communicated top-secret information that he learned in the course of his employment to multiple individuals he knew was not entitled to receive it.
Rahman was indicted by a grand jury on Nov. 7, 2024, and was arrested by the FBI as he arrived at work on Nov. 12, 2024. He has remained in custody since his arrest.
Rahman pleaded guilty to two counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information related to the national defense. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 15. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for both counts in the plea agreement. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The FBI Washington Field Office is investigating the case.
