The FBI is providing $200,000 for information that might result in the arrest of a former Air Force intelligence specialist who was charged in 2019 with spying for Iran.
In an announcement Thursday, the FBI mentioned it’s nonetheless making an attempt to find Monica Witt, who it believes defected to Iran in 2013. The company mentioned it believes she “likely continues to support (Iran’s) nefarious activities.”
“The FBI has not forgotten and believes that during this critical moment in Iran’s history, there is someone who knows something about her whereabouts,” Daniel Wierzbicki, particular agent in command of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Counterintelligence and Cyber Division, mentioned a press release, doubtless referring to the US’ ongoing tensions with Iran.
“The FBI wants to hear from you so you can help us apprehend Witt and bring her to justice,” it mentioned.
Witt was a former counterintelligence officer for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. From 2003 and 2008, Witt’s work concerned counterintelligence assignments that took her to the Middle East.
In 2019, then-Assistant Attorney General John Demers alleged that Witt was focused and recruited by Iran, and after she defected, she allegedly revealed to Iran the existence of a “highly classified intelligence collection program” and the identification of a US intelligence officer, “thereby risking the life of this individual.”
Prosecutors alleged within the indictment that from round January 2012 to round May 2015, in Iran and elsewhere exterior the US, Witt conspired with Iranians to offer “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.”
After her defection, Iranian authorities officers offered Witt with “goods and services, including housing and computer equipment,” to facilitate her work for them, in line with the indictment. It’s unclear whether or not she has a lawyer within the US to symbolize her.
The indictment additionally charged 4 Iranians with conspiracy, makes an attempt to commit pc intrusion and aggravated identification theft.