Ex-CIA Analyst Pleads Guilty to Sharing Top-Secret Data with Unauthorized Parties

A former analyst working for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) pleaded guilty to transmitting top secret National Defense Information (NDI) to individuals who did not have the necessary authorization to receive it and attempted to cover up the activity.

Asif William Rahman, 34, of Vienna, was an employee of the CIA since 2016 and had a Top Secret security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI). He was charged with two counts of unlawfully transmitting NDI in November 2024 following his arrest.

He has pleaded guilty to two counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information related to the national defense. He is expected to be sentenced on May 15, 2025, potentially facing a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

According to court filings, Rahman is alleged to have retained without authorization two documents classified as Top Secret on or about October 17, 2024, and delivered it to multiple individuals who were not entitled to receive it.

“In the spring of 2024, the defendant accessed and printed from his workstation approximately five documents. These documents were classified at the Secret and Top Secret level,” court documents filed on January 17, 2025, reveal. “The defendant transported those materials outside of his place of employment and to his residence by concealing those materials inside a backpack.”

“From his residence in the Eastern District of Virginia, the defendant reproduced the documents and, while doing so, altered them in an effort to conceal their source and his activity. The defendant then communicated Top Secret information he learned in the course of his employment to multiple individuals he knew were not entitled to receive it. He also transmitted the reproductions of the Secret and Top Secret documents to multiple individuals he knew were not entitled to receive them.”

Rahman is also said to have shared an additional 10 documents classified at the Top Secret level in a similar manner in the fall of 2024. Then on October 17, he printed two more Top Secret documents pertaining to a United States ally and its planned kinetic actions against a foreign adversary.

The defendant then proceeded to photograph these documents from his residence and used a computer program to edit the images. The documents were then shared with unspecified people who were not supposed to them. These individuals are believed to have shared the information with others, eventually causing the documents to appear on several social media platforms on October 18.

While the names of the countries were not disclosed, multiple reports from Axios and CNN revealed around that time that the release was linked to Israel’s plans to attack Iran. The documents, prepared by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, were posted on Telegram by an account called Middle East Spectator.

Rahman has also been accused of deleting the files and altering journal entries and written work products on his personal electronic devices in an effort to conceal his personal opinions on U.S. policy. He further drafted entries to paint a false, seemingly benign narrative regarding his deletion of records on his personal device and the CIA workstation.

“Government employees who are granted security clearances and given access to our nation’s classified information must promise to protect it,” said Executive Assistant Director Robert Wells of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Security Branch. “Rahman blatantly violated that pledge and took multiple steps to hide his actions.”

Philippines Arrests Chinese National and 2 Filipinos for Espionage

The development comes as the Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) disclosed the arrest of a Chinese national and two Filipino citizens suspected of conducting surveillance on critical infrastructure facilities for over a month.

The three individuals, Deng Yuanqing, Ronel Jojo Balundo Besa and Jayson Amado Fernandez, are part of a group consisting of six members who engage in surveillance operations by unlawfully obtaining sensitive information related to national defense. The remaining three members, two hardware engineers and a financier (aka Wang), are currently in China, the agency added.

Deng, per the NBI, is a software engineer with specialization in automation and control engineering and is allegedly affiliated with the PLA University Science and Technology, a Nanjing-based academic institution under the control of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The investigation also uncovered that a white vehicle was procured and fitted with information and communications technology (ICT) equipment so as to facilitate the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) operation.

“From December 13, 2024 to January 16, 2025, subject vehicle was monitored traversing to and fro the National Capital Region and the general divisions of Luzon, conducting detailed scouting, collating comprehensive image of the terrains and structures and the over-all topography of the potential targets, without consent and authority from the Philippine Government,” the NBI said.

The agency also noted that an onsite search led to the discovery of a Chinese character user account with device ID 918 452 619 controlling the computer system inside the subject vehicle, such as the portable keyboard, files, and cameras.

The Philippines has been a target of several Chinese threat actors in recent years, primarily driven by geopolitical tensions in Southeast Asia over ongoing territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

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Some parts of this article are sourced from:
thehackernews.com