A United States former Air Force intelligence expert accused of spying likely shared classified information with Iran that could “seriously damage” US national security, according to fresh reports.
The US Department of Justice unsealed a closed indictment on February 14, revealing that Monica Elfriede Witt had been charged with espionage along with four Iranian hackers with links to the Revolutionary Guards.
The officer defected to Iran in 2013 according to FBI sources, but new reports say she had traveled to Iran at least once before then, in February 2012.
The news emerged after senior US officials including Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers held a press call regarding “a national security-related action involving Iran.”
Speaking at a press conference in Washington DC, Executive Assistant Director Jay Tabb of the FBI’s National Security Branch said: “Once a holder of a top secret security clearance, Monica Witt actively sought opportunities to undermine the United States and support the government of Iran—a country which poses a serious threat to our national security.”
The charges against Witt are the result of years of “tireless work” by FBI agents and assistance from the special investigations department of the Air Force, according to the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
New photographs have emerged showing Witt in Tehran in 2012, where Witt allegedly took part in the capital’s Hollywoodism Festival. The festival is organized by the Ofogh No (New Horizon) cultural organization, a subsidiary of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). Event guests included a number of people with apparent leftist, anti-Israeli and anti-Semite leanings, including filmmaker Sean Stone, the son of director Oliver Stone, Holocaust denier French academic Robert Faurisson (now deceased) and French anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonné M'bala M’bala. Witt does not appear on the official guest list of the festival and does not appear in group photos or the award ceremony, which was hosted by former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But at least two photographs show that she was present. In one, Witt is standing behind members of anti-Israeli fringe Jewish group Neturei Karta. In another, she is seen having a conversation with another non-Iranian guest at the festival.
Assistant Attorney General Demers said Witt had put the life of US security personnel at risk, revealing the identity of a US intelligence officer.
Iranian hackers Mojtaba Mosoumpour, Behzad Mesri, Hossein Parvar, and Mohamad Paryar have also been charged with using phishing and malware attacks to target current and former US government agents.
In addition to Assistant Attorney General Demers and the FBI's Jay Tabb, US Attorney for Washington, Jessie Liu, Treasury Department director of Foreign Assets Control Adrea Gacki and Air Force Office of Special Investigations Special Agent Terry Phillips also took part in the phone call briefing reporters.
Witt, who was born in Texas, served in the Air Force from 1997 until 2008, and later worked with a defense contractor until 2010. Although she was not in service at the time of her alleged crimes against US military personnel, she used information acquired during her service to compromise US national security personnel, according to FBI reports.
Witt and the four Iranians are still thought to be in Iran, but the US has issued warrants for their arrests if they leave the country.
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