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(Photo by CARLOS OSORIO / POOL / AFP) (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) (CNN) — The US has charged a former Air Force intelligence specialist with spying for Iran, according to an indictment unsealed in federal court Wednesday. Monica Witt, who was also a former counterintelligence officer for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, defected to Iran in 2013, according to the indictment, and remains at large. DOJ alleges that Witt was targeted and recruited by Iran, and that after she defected, she allegedly revealed to Iran the existence of a “highly classified intelligence collection program” and the identify of a US intelligence officer, “thereby risking the life of this individual,” Assistant Attorney General John Demers said Wednesday. “It is a sad day for America when one of its citizens betrays our country,” Demers told reporters. “It is sadder still when this person, as a member of the American armed forces, previously invoked the aid of God to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and to defend her country against foreign enemies. Monica Witt is alleged to have done just this.” FBI From around January 2012 to around May 2015, in Iran and elsewhere outside the US, Witt conspired with Iranians to provide “documents and information relating to the national defense of the United States, with the intent and reason to believe that the same would be used to the injury of the United States and to the advantage of Iran,” the indictment reads. Witt, 39, also “created target packages for use by Iran” against US government agents and counterintelligence officers, the indictment alleges. Iranian government officials provided Witt with “goods and services, including housing and computer equipment,” in order to facilitate her work on behalf of the government of Iran after her defection, the indictment said. The indictment also charges four Iranians with conspiracy, attempts to commit computer intrusion and aggravated identity theft as part of a 2014 - 2015 effort to target “through and other cyber-enabled means, at least eight US government agents, all of whom at one time worked or interacted with Monica Witt,” Demers said. ’Cyber conspirators’ The Iranians, whom the indictment calls the “cyber conspirators” worked on behalf of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the powerful branch of the military founded by Ayatollah Khomeini after Iran’s 1979 revolution. Demers told reporters today that Witt allegedly worked with Iran to research and “create target packages” that “enabled the Government of Iran to identify, track, and neutralize US counterintelligence agents.” Using phishing emails and fake Facebook accounts created in the name of one of Witt’s former colleagues, these Iranian agents sent friend requests to some of her other former colleagues. Their goal was to lure them into clicking on malware links that “would have provided the Cyber Conspirators with covert, persistent access” to the target’s computer and any associated network, the indictment said. Another phishing effort involved sending Witt’s former colleagues messages containing a link that appeared to be to an international news outlet and a short note asking if the article was about the recipient. If clicked, the link would lead to a page controlled by the “Cyber Conspirators.” Frustrated with ‘Iranian suspicion’ The indictment gives the barest sketch of Witt’s path from Air Force special agent to alleged traitor, but it reproduces email messages that show she considered approaching Russia as well. “I am starting to get frustrated at the level of Iranian suspicion,” she wrote at one point to her Iranian contact. Witt was sworn in as a special agent around August 1997 and continuously held the position until in or around March 2008, when she became a government contractor for the intelligence community until about August 2010, according to the indictment. She was trained in the Persian language Farsi and granted access to top-secret and “sensitive compartmented” national defense information that included the United States’ foreign intelligence and counter intelligence operations and the true names of its intelligence agents and its sources overseas. From 2003 and 2008, Witt’s work involved counterintelligence assignments that took her to the Middle East. The indictment doesn’t specify the countries where Witt was assigned to work, but it lays out some of her contacts with Iran in recent years, including her email exchanges with a dual American-Iranian citizen, identified only as “Individual A.” Described as a “spotter and assessor,” Individual A worked for the IRGC to identify people who may have access to intelligence and counterintelligence and determine their potential value as sources. ’u were well trained’ The indictment quotes one exchange on or about October 17, 2012, when Individual A wrote to Witt saying, “should i thank the sec of defense . . u were well trained.” Witt replies, “LOL thank the sec of defense? For me? Well, I loved the work, and I am endeavoring to put the training I received to good use instead of evil. Thanks for giving me the opportunity.” The indictment also details her travel to Iran in February 2012, where she took part in a “Hollywoodism” conference, an IRGC-sponsored event aimed at condemning US moral standards and promoting anti-US propaganda. Witt also appeared in one or more videos, in which she was identified as a US veteran and made comments critical of the US government, knowing the videos would be broadcast on Iranian TV. That same month, the ceremony marking Witt’s conversion to Islam was broadcast on Iranian television. In May 2012, the FBI warned Witt that she was a target for recruitment by Iranian intelligence services.<doc-sep>A former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran has been charged with revealing classified information as well as research about her former colleagues to representatives of the Tehran government, prosecutors said Wednesday. This 2012 photo released by the Department of Justice shows Monica Elfriede Witt. The Justice Department on Wednesday announced an indictment against Witt, who defected to Iran in 2013 and is currently at-large. (Department of Justice via AP) WASHINGTON — A former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran has been charged with revealing classified information as well as research about her former colleagues to representatives of the Tehran government, prosecutors said Wednesday. A Justice Department indictment charges Monica Elfriede Witt, who defected in 2013 and is currently at-large, along with four Iranian hackers who, prosecutors say, used the information she provided to target former colleagues in the U.S. intelligence community. The indictment says the four Iranians were acting on behalf of the government-linked Iranian Revolutionary Guard. All remain at large. “It is a sad day for America when one of its citizens betrays our country,” said Assistant Attorney General John Demers, the head of the Justice Department’s national security division. Jay Tabb, the FBI’s top national security official, said the FBI had warned Witt before her defection that she was a vulnerable target for recruitment by Iranian intelligence but that Witt had ignored those warnings.<doc-sep>Witt’s alleged betrayal, officials said, was as personal as it was damaging — threatening a sensitive operation that to this day authorities will not detail, and putting her former co-workers squarely in the crosshairs of a foreign adversary. Witt, according to the indictment, was desperate to share the information she had and get away from the United States. Text messages, disclosed as part of the indictment, show her contemplating approaching the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks and Russia after Iran, apparently skeptical of her motives or credibility, was slow to accept her alleged overture.<doc-sep>
A former Air Force intelligence specialist who defected to Iran has been charged with conspiring to provide U.S. defense information to representatives of that country’s government, including the code name and mission of a highly classified program, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, a former counterintelligence officer, is accused of revealing the Defense Department program, the details of which are unclear, as well as helping Iranian intelligence services direct hacking and identity theft attempts at her military co-workers. She defected to Iran in 2013 and was believed to be there now. The Justice Department also charged four Iranian nationals with attempting to commit computer intrusion and aggravated identity theft in the case. “It is a sad day for America when one of its citizens betrays our country,” Assistant Atty. Gen. John Demers said at a briefing announcing the charges. The announcement came just as Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Vice President Pence prepared to welcome representatives from about 60 countries for a conference in Poland that was originally billed as a meeting to pressure Iran on its missile testing and terrorism. The event, though, has received a tepid response abroad, as some objected to the its anti-Iran focus. Law enforcement officials insisted there was no connection between the timing of the charges and the conference. Jay Tabb, the FBI’s executive assistant director for national security, said investigators believe Witt shared information that “could cause serious damage to national security,” though he declined to provide specific details of the operations she allegedly disclosed. Witt, who served in the Air Force from August 1997 to March 2008 and worked from 2008 to 2010 as a government contractor on classified projects, had access to sensitive government materials, officials said. According to the indictment, she had access to secret and top secret national defense information, including the names of intelligence sources and clandestine agents, and had been deployed between 1999 and 2003 overseas to collect electronic intelligence. The Justice Department alleges she shared with Iran packages of information about her former colleagues so they could be targeted, as well as the code name and mission of a Defense Department Special Access Program, which was highly classified. Tabb said investigators believe Witt’s motive was “ideological,” and the indictment against her alleges that, before she defected, she appeared in videos that she knew would be broadcast by Iranian media outlets and “made statements that were critical of the U.S. government.” In 2012, after Witt traveled to Iran for a conference, the FBI warned her that she could be targeted for recruitment by that country’s government, and Witt told the bureau she would refuse to provide information about her military work, according to the indictment. The next year, she went to another Iranian conference and soon arranged to defect, according to the indictment. Asked if the bureau should have done more after the initial warning, Tabb said, “I don’t think so.” “We followed a procedure that we do, known as a defensive briefing. We went to Witt and we told her that she might be targeted by intelligence officers in travel to Iran. She chose not to heed our warning,” he said.