A contractor for the U.S. government, Abraham Teklu Lemma, has been arrested on espionage charges, the Justice Department announced on Thursday. Lemma, originally from Ethiopia, held a top secret security clearance and had access to classified information through contracting positions with the departments of State and Justice.
Lemma is accused of using an encrypted messaging application to transmit maps, photographs, and satellite imagery to a foreign government. Court documents do not identify the country, but press reports say the migrant is alleged to have spied for Ethiopia. He faces charges of delivering national defense information to aid a foreign government, conspiring to do so, and willful retention of national defense information.
Lemma, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of Silver Spring, Maryland, communicated with a foreign official who tasked him with supplying information on specific subjects of interest, including military issues such as command centers and rebel activities.
The State Department learned about Lemma’s actions during an internal security review prompted by the arrest of a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified military documents on a social media platform in April.
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