A contractor for the U.S. authorities has been arrested on espionage costs, accused of offering a overseas nation labeled info that he downloaded and printed from his work laptop system, the Justice Division mentioned Thursday.
Abraham Teklu Lemma, who’s initially from Ethiopia, had a prime secret safety clearance and entry to labeled info by contracting positions with the departments of State and Justice.
He’s accused of utilizing an encrypted messaging utility to transmit maps, pictures and satellite tv for pc imagery to the overseas authorities, in keeping with court docket paperwork.
Courtroom papers don’t determine the nation Lemma is accused of spying for, and a Justice Division spokesman declined to remark. However the paperwork do seek advice from journey backwards and forwards over the previous yr and a half to a rustic the place he has household ties.
The New York Instances, which first reported the arrest, recognized Ethiopia because the nation for which Lemma is alleged to have spied.
Prosecutors say he accessed dozens of intelligence studies, copying info from them and downloading it to CDs and DVDs.
Lemma faces costs of delivering nationwide protection info to assist a overseas authorities and conspiring to take action, in addition to the willful retention of nationwide protection info. It was not instantly clear if he had a lawyer who may communicate on his behalf.
Lemma, 50, of Silver Spring, Maryland, is a naturalized U.S. citizen, the Justice Division mentioned.
In addition to the fabric that prosecutors say Lemma offered, he additionally communicated with a overseas official who tasked him with supplying info on sure topics of curiosity to the nation. They mentioned navy points, comparable to command facilities and the actions of rebels who have been preventing towards the federal government, in keeping with an FBI agent’s affidavit.
When the official advised Lemma final September that it was time for him to proceed his help, the affidavit says, Lemma responded, “Roger that!”
The State Division mentioned in a press release that it discovered that Lemma might have improperly eliminated labeled info from its methods throughout an inside 60-day safety assessment prompted by the April arrest of a Massachusetts Air Nationwide Guardsman accused of leaking extremely labeled navy paperwork on a social media platform.
The division mentioned it could proceed to implement suggestions from that assessment to enhance its safety of labeled info.