A former CIA analyst who dared to betray his nation finds himself behind bars for leaking highly sensitive national defense information.
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34-year-old Asif William Rahman exposed highly sensitive satellite imagery on social media, forcing Israel to delay critical military operations and jeopardizing American intelligence operations.
The Yale graduate’s betrayal represents a shocking breach of national security at the highest levels.
Rahman, who had worked for the CIA since 2016, was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information.
The disgraced intelligence analyst accessed and printed two top-secret documents on October 17, 2024, while working at the US Embassy in Cambodia, then transmitted them to unauthorized recipients.
By the following day, the classified intelligence had appeared on social media platforms including Telegram, revealing detailed Israeli military preparations for a retaliatory strike against Iran.
The documents included sensitive satellite imagery from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency showing Israeli aviation exercises and military movements.
Rahman’s treachery had an immediate and severe impact. After the documents became public, Israeli officials were forced to delay their planned military response.
This potentially put allied operations at risk and compromised America’s intelligence gathering capabilities in the volatile Middle East.
“For months, this defendant betrayed the American people and the oaths he took upon entering his office by leaking some of our Nation’s most closely held secrets,” John Eisenberg, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, stated.
The leak occurred during a period of heightened tensions in the Middle East. Iran had launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1 in retaliation for the killings of senior figures in Hamas and Hezbollah.
Israel ultimately responded with strikes on military targets in Iran in late October, but only after Rahman’s actions compromised their original plans.
In a failed attempt to cover his tracks, Rahman deleted work products, destroyed electronic devices, and shredded original documents.
Despite these efforts, FBI agents arrested him on November 12, 2024, in Cambodia.
He has remained in custody since his arrest and faced potential sentences of up to 20 years in prison before accepting a plea deal.
Rahman, a Yale University graduate and former high school valedictorian, reportedly attributed his actions to “family-related grief” and trauma from a previous assignment in Iraq.
Nevertheless, prosecutors emphasized the serious nature of his crimes and their potential impact on national security, American lives, and international relations.
This case underscores growing concerns about insider threats within America’s intelligence community and the challenges of restricting sensitive information dissemination in the digital age.
Law enforcement officials have made it clear that the Department of Justice will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute security breaches that compromise the nation’s intelligence capabilities and put American interests at risk.
Ex-CIA analyst who admitted leaking docs about Israel strike on Iran gets 37 months in prison https://t.co/dCsARGL2rM pic.twitter.com/mdLcyF7p3W
— New York Post (@nypost) June 12, 2025
