A U.S. government employee has been arrested and charged for leaking top secret intel documents related to Israel’s preparations to retaliate for Iran’s Oct. 1 missile attacks.
The suspect, Asif Rahman, was indicted last week on two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information. FBI agents arrested Rahman in Cambodia on Tuesday.
The nationality of the suspect has not been released but Ancestry.com states the name is of Arabic origins stating, “Rahman Surname MeaningMuslim: from a personal name based on Arabic raḥmān ‘most gracious’.
Rahman, who according to The New York Times “worked abroad” for the CIA, is set to make his first court appearance in Guam later this week.
Court documents said Rahman held a top-secret security clearance with access to sensitive compartmentalized information, which the Times noted is typical for CIA employees who handle classified documents.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation previously confirmed it was investigating the leak. Agents were said to have been working to authenticate the files and determine who could have had access to them, they said.
At least one of the files appears to have been scanned from an officially printed briefing book, and the pool of people who printed these pages would be relatively small, sources familiar with U.S. intelligence said.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that it is not yet known how the documents were leaked and that the Department of Defense continues to investigate the incident.
Axios noted on Oct. 19 that the leak was likely an attempt to “disrupt” Israel’s plans to retaliate against Tehran and revealed close spying by the Biden administration on the Jewish state, including with satellites.
On Oct. 1, Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at the Jewish state, in the second-ever direct attack by Tehran against Israel. The Israel Defense Forces, with help from the U.S. and Jordanian militaries, downed most of the missiles, with the sole casualty of the attack being a Palestinian man from Gaza who was struck by falling missile debris near Jericho.
In response, on Oct. 26, Israeli jets hit 20 sites in Iran in multiple waves, reportedly knocking out its air defenses and significantly setting back its missile production industry. The Israeli strikes also destroyed radar systems required to guide the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missiles.
Unidentified Iranian sources told Sky News Arabia on Wednesday that Tehran’s leadership decided to “postpone” a renewed attack on Israel after the Nov. 5 election victory by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
–JNS.org | Used with permission with additional reporting