The Justice Department announced charges against a former Air Force intelligence specialist on Wednesday after she defected to Iran, according to The Washington Post.
The indictment says Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, conspired to provide U.S. defense information to Iranian government representatives, including the code name and details of a highly classified mission.
Witt served in the Air Force from 1997 through March 2008, but also worked as a government contractor on classified projects from 2008 to 2010 so she had access to sensitive materials.
The indictment says she accessed the secret and top secret national defense information while deployed overseas between 1999 and 2003 to gather electronic intelligence reports.
The Justice Department claims she shared some of that information about her former colleagues with Iran, along with the code name and mission of a Defense Department Special Access Program.
It's unclear which Defense Department program she revealed to Tehran, but is accused of helping the Middle Eastern country's intelligence services with direct hacking and identity theft of her military co-workers.
She is believed to be in Iran now after defecting in 2013.
“It is a sad day for America when one of its citizens betrays our country,” Assistant Attorney General John Demers said during a briefing to announce the charges against Witt and four Iranian nationals, who attempted to commit computer intrusion and aggravated identity theft.
The charges were announced as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence were welcoming representatives from dozens of countries in Poland for a conference which was originally meant to put pressure on Iran over its missile testing and terrorism funding.
Though analysts said the event had a tepid response from the 60 countries scheduled to attend since some objected to the anti-Iran focus.
Justice Department officials said there was no link between the timing of the charges against Mitt and the Iranians and the conference.
Jay Tabb, the FBI’s executive assistant director for national security, said the DOJ believed Mitt shared information that “could cause serious damage to national security.”
Tabb said investigators believed Witt was ideologically motivated and claims before she defected in 2013, she appeared in videos she knew would be broadcast by Iranian media outlets which included "statements that were critical of the U.S. government.”
Witt was warned in 2012 she could be recruited by the Iranian government, but Witt said she would refuse to provide information about any of her military work, according to the indictment.
But the next year she traveled to Iran for another conference and arranged to defect.
-WN.com, Maureen Foody
Photo:
AP / Evan Vucci, FILE
