Asif William Rahman, 34, from Vienna, had been with the CIA since 2016 and held a Top Secret security clearance, granting him access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI). He faced charges of unlawfully transmitting NDI in November 2024 after his arrest.
Rahman has pleaded guilty to two counts of willfully retaining and transmitting classified information concerning national defense. He is set to be sentenced on May 15, 2025, and could face up to 10 years in prison.
Court documents indicate that Rahman is accused of unlawfully retaining two Top Secret documents around October 17, 2024, and sharing them with several individuals who were not authorized to receive them.
In the spring of 2024, the defendant accessed and printed approximately five documents from his workstation, which were classified at the Secret and Top Secret levels, according to court documents filed on January 17, 2025. The defendant then transported these materials outside of his workplace to his home, concealing them in a backpack.
From his residence in the Eastern District of Virginia, the defendant reproduced the documents, altering them in an attempt to hide their origin and his actions. He subsequently communicated Top Secret information obtained during his employment to several individuals he knew were not authorized to receive it. Additionally, he transmitted reproductions of the Secret and Top Secret documents to multiple individuals who were also unauthorized.
Rahman is reported to have shared another 10 documents classified at the Top Secret level in a similar fashion during the fall of 2024. On October 17, he printed two more Top Secret documents related to a U.S. ally and its planned military actions against a foreign adversary.
The defendant then photographed these documents from his home and used a computer program to edit the images. These documents were shared with unspecified individuals who were not authorized to access them. It is believed that these individuals subsequently shared the information with others, leading to the documents appearing on various social media platforms on October 18.
While the names of the countries involved were not disclosed, multiple reports from Axios and CNN indicated that the release was connected to Israel’s plans to attack Iran around that time. The documents, prepared by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, were posted on Telegram by an account named Middle East Spectator.
Rahman has been charged with deleting files and altering journal entries and written work on his personal devices in an attempt to hide his personal views on U.S. policy. He also wrote entries to create a false, seemingly harmless narrative about his record deletions 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 FBI’s National Security Branch. “Rahman clearly breached that promise and took various steps to cover up his actions.”
Philippines Arrests Chinese National and 2 Filipinos for Espionage
The Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has announced the arrest of a Chinese national and two Filipino citizens who are suspected of surveilling critical infrastructure facilities for more than a month.
The arrested individuals, identified as Deng Yuanqing, Ronel Jojo Balundo Besa, and Jayson Amado Fernandez, are part of a six-member group involved in surveillance operations aimed at unlawfully acquiring sensitive information related to national defense. The other three members, which include two hardware engineers and a financier known as Wang, are currently in China, according to the agency.
Deng, according to the NBI, is a software engineer specializing in automation and control engineering, and is reportedly connected to the PLA University of Science and Technology, an academic institution in Nanjing that operates under the auspices of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
The investigation also revealed that a white vehicle was acquired and equipped with information and communications technology (ICT) tools to support an Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) operation.
“Between December 13, 2024, and January 16, 2025, the vehicle in question was observed moving back and forth within the National Capital Region and various areas of Luzon, conducting thorough reconnaissance, gathering detailed images of the terrain, structures, and overall topography of potential targets, all without the consent or authorization of the Philippine Government,” stated the NBI.
The agency further reported that an onsite search led to the identification of a user account with Chinese characters and device ID 918 452 619, which was controlling the computer system inside the vehicle, including the portable keyboard, files, and cameras.
In recent years, the Philippines has faced threats from various Chinese actors, largely fueled by geopolitical tensions in Southeast Asia related to ongoing territorial disputes in the South China Sea.