Do Son 
A former analyst with the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been sentenced to prison for disclosing classified national defense information to unauthorized individuals and for attempting to conceal his actions. Asif William Rahman, a 34-year-old resident of Vienna, was sentenced to 37 months of incarceration.
Rahman, who had served in the CIA since 2016, held access to highly classified Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI). He was apprehended in Cambodia in November of the previous year and was immediately dismissed from the agency. In January 2025, he pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawfully retaining and transmitting classified information.
According to the investigation, on October 17, 2024, Rahman unlawfully removed documents marked “Secret” and “Top Secret” from the agency and transported them to his residence in a backpack. He subsequently shared the materials with several individuals lacking proper security clearance. The disclosure was not limited to physical documents—Rahman photographed sensitive files, altered the images using specialized software to obscure their origins, and took measures to erase traces of his activity.
The case files reveal that Rahman employed digital means to cover his tracks. He launched a so-called “data deletion campaign,” erasing approximately 1.5 gigabytes of content from his email account and personal directories on his computer. Additionally, he edited and removed entries from his personal journal concerning his views on U.S. foreign policy decisions.
Of particular concern to U.S. authorities was the nature of the leaked content: among the documents were materials outlining potential Israeli military plans for an attack on Iran. Some of these documents eventually appeared in the public domain, having been published by a Telegram channel known as Middle East Spectator.
The U.S. Department of Justice emphasized that Rahman’s actions were deliberate and carried out with clear intent. Eric Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, stated that Rahman betrayed the trust placed in him and compromised the national security of the United States and its allies. He credited the swift response and successful prosecution to the coordinated efforts of investigators and legal professionals.
Authorities underscore that such breaches should serve as a stark warning to anyone contemplating the compromise of state secrets for personal gain.
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