CIA employee who leaked classified docs re: Israel's plans to strike Iran will plead guilty

Well, here we have another fine example of how the internal workings of the intelligence community can become as leaky as a sieve. As if William Rahman, a CIA employee since 2016, decided it was his personal mission to become the unofficial town crier of classified information. On Friday, he pleaded guilty to charges that he not only retained but also merrily transmitted national defense secrets, according to the US Department of Justice.

In his own words, or rather, in the legal confession that he made, Rahman admitted to having downloaded, printed, and distributed classified documents. Not once, but several times throughout 2024. In the spring, he was caught with his hands in the cookie jar of secrets, printing five documents labeled 'secret' and 'top secret', taking them home like they were his personal reading material. He then engaged in a bit of home-based espionage, altering these documents before distributing them to those who had no legal right to see them.

To cover his tracks, he deleted his digital footprints, returned the documents to the CIA for shredding, and presumably patted himself on the back for his cleverness. But, as autumn turned the leaves, he repeated this performance, this time with ten more top-secret documents.

The plot thickens—or rather, the leak widens—on October 17, 2024, when he printed two documents detailing Israel's plans to strike Iran. These plans, which were supposed to stay within the confines of secure briefings, found themselves on the internet, courtesy of a pro-Iranian Telegram channel named "Middle East Spectator".

Rahman, aged 34, from Vienna, Virginia, now faces the consequences of his actions in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. One wonders if the irony of leaking secrets to protect one's own secrets is lost on him.

This case is not just about one man's indiscretions; it's a stark reminder of the fragility of our security apparatus when individuals decide to play fast and loose with national secrets. It's a narrative that could be straight out of a spy novel, if only it weren't so disturbingly real.

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