Voice of America
22 Sep 2023, 03:05 GMT+10
WASHINGTON - A contractor for the U.S. government has been arrested on espionage charges, accused of providing a foreign country classified information that he downloaded and printed from his work computer system, the Justice Department said Thursday.
Abraham Teklu Lemma, who is originally from Ethiopia, had a top secret security clearance and access to classified information through contracting positions with the departments of State and Justice.
He is accused of using an encrypted messaging application to transmit maps, photographs and satellite imagery to the foreign government, according to court documents.
Court papers do not identify the country Lemma is accused of spying for, and a Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. But the documents do refer to travel back and forth over the past year and a half to a country where he has family ties.
The New York Times, which first reported the arrest, identified Ethiopia as the country for which Lemma is alleged to have spied.
Prosecutors say he accessed dozens of intelligence reports, copying information from them and downloading it to CDs and DVDs.
Lemma faces charges of delivering national defense information to aid a foreign government and conspiring to do so, as well as the willful retention of national defense information. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
Lemma, 50, of Silver Spring, Maryland, is a naturalized U.S. citizen, the Justice Department said.
Besides the material that prosecutors say Lemma provided, he also communicated with a foreign official who tasked him with supplying information on certain subjects of interest to the country. They discussed military issues, such as command centers and the activities of rebels who were fighting against the government, according to an FBI agent's affidavit.
When the official told Lemma last September that it was time for him to continue his support, the affidavit says, Lemma responded, 'Roger that!'
The State Department said in a statement that it learned that Lemma may have improperly removed classified information from its systems during an internal 60-day security review prompted by the April arrest of a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking highly classified military documents on a social media platform.
The department said it would continue to implement recommendations from that review to improve its protection of classified information.
Get a daily dose of Orange County Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Orange County Sun.
More InformationNEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks were largely range-bound Wednesday after the Federal Reserve decided to maintain the target range...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Trump administration is weighing a major expansion of its travel restrictions, with a new internal memo revealing...
ARLINGTON COUNTY, Virginia: As global air travel continues its recovery from the pandemic, Boeing has released a tempered 20-year outlook...
NEW YORK, New York - U.,S. stocks closed lower Tuesday as President Donald Trump hinted the United States may join Israel in its attacks...
MENLO PARK, California: Meta Platforms has made a bold move to accelerate its artificial intelligence ambitions—by investing US$14.3...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: This week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that facilitates Nippon Steel's potential investment...
DUBAI, U.A.E.: As violence escalates between Iran and Israel, Tehran is turning to its Gulf neighbors to help broker a ceasefire —...
LONDON, U.K.: On June 15, Britain named Blaise Metreweli as the first woman to lead the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known...
BARCELONA/MADRID, Spain: With another record-breaking tourist season underway, thousands of residents across southern Europe marched...
NEW DELHI, India: The flight data recorder from the crashed Air India plane was found on June 13. This vital discovery may help investigators...
BEIJING, China: A typhoon altered its course and struck Hainan Island, southern China, late on the night of June 13. Typhoon Wutip...
BANFF, Alberta: The recent G7 summit has convened for the second and final day in the picturesque Canadian Rockies amidst escalating...