A simple tech support worker for the US State Department's Bureau of Intelligence, Abraham Lemma, uploaded more than 100 intelligence reports since last December and passed them on... to Ethiopia. Comrade Lemma, a U.S. citizen originally from that country, turned out to be an Ethiopian spy. And had access to sensitive data dating back to 2020.
Secret documents and maps, photos of military bases, data from satellites in the region - all of this Lemma wrote on bolts, took out of the State Department and transmitted via messenger to Ethiopian intelligence. For his labors, he received ~$100K from trips back home. The African spy's professionalism matched the price tag: immediately after stealing the data and upon returning to the US, Lemma would stuff dirty spy cash into his account and swear off bank demands to fill out a currency transaction report. He also aroused suspicion by keeping obscure notes at work. On espionage charges, this hapless man faces up to the death penalty or life in prison.
>US govt IT help desk techie 'leaked top secrets' to foreign nation
Some quotes:
>between December 19, 2022 and August 7, 2023, Lemma copied, printed, and downloaded classified and top-secret information from more than 100 US intelligence reports, the majority of these relating to Ethiopia, without authorization
>He then allegedly transmitted classified national defense information, "including documents, photographs, notes, maps," and other data relating to Ethiopia and neighboring countries over an unnamed encrypted messaging app. This included satellite imagery from the region that was marked "top secret," photos of a military compound, and other information detailing military activities in the region.
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[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 260 ms ] threadSecret documents and maps, photos of military bases, data from satellites in the region - all of this Lemma wrote on bolts, took out of the State Department and transmitted via messenger to Ethiopian intelligence. For his labors, he received ~$100K from trips back home. The African spy's professionalism matched the price tag: immediately after stealing the data and upon returning to the US, Lemma would stuff dirty spy cash into his account and swear off bank demands to fill out a currency transaction report. He also aroused suspicion by keeping obscure notes at work. On espionage charges, this hapless man faces up to the death penalty or life in prison.
>US govt IT help desk techie 'leaked top secrets' to foreign nation
Some quotes:
>between December 19, 2022 and August 7, 2023, Lemma copied, printed, and downloaded classified and top-secret information from more than 100 US intelligence reports, the majority of these relating to Ethiopia, without authorization
>He then allegedly transmitted classified national defense information, "including documents, photographs, notes, maps," and other data relating to Ethiopia and neighboring countries over an unnamed encrypted messaging app. This included satellite imagery from the region that was marked "top secret," photos of a military compound, and other information detailing military activities in the region.
Seems like this guy was carrying out targeted espionage on behalf of another country for personal gain, very different from what Snowden did.