A Federal contractor was charged on Thursday for aiding a foreign government spy.
According to the DC US Attorney’s Office, Ethiopian-born Abraham Teklu Lemma, 50, a naturalized US citizen, is charged with copying sensitive national defense data from intelligence reports and sending it to a foreign intelligence official while working as a management analyst for the Justice Department and an IT administrator for the State Department.
Lemma, a resident of Maryland, has been accused of conspiring to gather or deliver national defense information to aid a foreign government, gathering or delivering such information, as well as having unlawful possession of such information and willfully keeping it.
If found guilty on the two espionage charges, he might be subject to the death penalty.
In unsealed court documents, the country Lemma was spying for is simply referred to as the “Relevant Country,” but numerous media sites claim that it was Ethiopia.
“Lemma accessed these Intelligence Reports without a need to-know the classified information contained therein. During the same period, Lemma accessed at least an additional 48 Intelligence Reports without a need-to-know,” the FBI’s complaint against Lemma reads.
DOS records revealed that Lemma has repeatedly printed and downloaded SECRET and TOP SECRET information ffrom the Intelligence Reports. The complaint also added that the printed and downloaded content was mostly about the Relevant Country.
Further allegations state that the suspected spy sent the private information to a foreign agent working for Ethiopia’s intelligence service using an encrypted messaging app, and that they spoke about the “military activities of a rebel group engaged in an armed struggle against the government of the Relevant Country.”
The DC US Attorney’s Office stated that Lemma showed an interest and willingness to assist the foreign official in supplying details in these communications.
Lemma’s bank records also revealed that he made multiple deposits totaling more than $55,000 to other banks after visiting Ethiopia as part of his illicit intelligence collecting activities.
The Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixiera was arrested in April on suspicion of disseminating sensitive defense information online which led to the implementation of a “self-initiated 60-day Internal Security Review” discovering Lemma’s alleged unauthorized gathering and disclosure of national security secrets.
Miller stated that the Department will continue to implement recommendations from the Internal Security Review to strengthen the provision of access to [Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented] information, enhance continuous security monitoring, and protect sensitive information which will help to reduce the likelihood of similar incidents reoccurring in the future.
