FBI offers $200,000 for information on former Air Force intelligence specialist charged with spying for Iran
The FBI is offering $200,000 for information that could lead to the arrest of a former Air Force intelligence specialist accused of spying for Iran in 2019.
One announcement On Thursday, the FBI said it was still trying to locate him. Monica WittThe person he believed took refuge in Iran in 2013. The agency said it believed he “will continue to support (Iran’s) nefarious activities.”
“The FBI believes that at this critical moment in Iran’s history, there was someone who knew something about his whereabouts, and he hasn’t forgotten that,” Daniel Wierzbicki, special agent in charge of the Counterintelligence and Cyber Division of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, said in a statement likely referring to ongoing U.S. tensions with Iran.
“The FBI wants to hear from you so you can help us catch Witt and bring him to justice,” he said.
Witt was a former counterintelligence officer with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Witt’s work between 2003 and 2008 included counterintelligence missions that took him to the Middle East.
FBI Washington Field Office Announces $200,000 Reward for Information Leading to the Arrest of Former U.S. Counterintelligence Agent Monica Witt. – FBI
In 2019, then-Deputy Attorney General John Demers alleged that Witt was targeted and recruited by Iran, and alleged that after Witt’s escape, he disclosed the existence of a “highly secret intelligence collection program” and the identity of a U.S. intelligence officer to Iran, “thereby endangering that individual’s life.”
In the indictment, prosecutors alleged that from January 2012 to May 2015, Witt committed crimes in Iran and elsewhere outside the United States “in conspiring with Iranians to provide documents and information related to the national defense of the United States, with the intent and reason to believe that they would be used to the detriment of the United States and to the advantage of Iran.”
Following his departure, Iranian government officials provided Witt with “goods and services, including housing and computer equipment,” to facilitate his work, according to the indictment. It is unclear whether he has a lawyer in the United States to represent him.
The indictment also charges four Iranians with conspiracy, attempted computer intrusion and aggravated identity theft.
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