By Steve Neavling
A former CIA analyst was sentenced to more than three years in prison for leaking highly classified Defense Department documents that later appeared on social media, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.
Asif William Rahman, 34, of Vienna, Virginia, worked at the CIA from 2016 until his termination and held a top secret security clearance. Federal prosecutors said Rahman repeatedly accessed and shared sensitive national defense information with people who weren’t authorized to receive it.
“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,” Assistant Attorney General John C. Eisenberg said in a statement. “As this case demonstrates, the Department of Justice will continue to protect our nation by vigorously investigating and prosecuting leakers who compromise our nation’s security.”
According to court records, Rahman printed two top secret documents detailing a foreign ally’s plans against an adversary. He photographed the pages and shared them with individuals who did not have clearance to receive them. By Oct. 18, 2024, the documents — still marked with classification labels — were circulating on multiple social media platforms.
Prosecutors said Rahman continued sharing classified materials through early November, then began wiping files from his top secret workstation.
A federal grand jury indicted him on Nov. 7. He was arrested five days later by FBI agents as he arrived at work. Rahman later pleaded guilty to two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information and has remained in custody since his arrest.
