A Former U.S. Air Force Officer Charged with Espionage for Iran

On Wednesday, February 24, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Monica White, a former officer in the U.S. Air Force's counterintelligence section, with aiding Iran in cyber espionage against Air Force personnel. According to Reuters, the Department of Justice has also charged four Iranian citizens involved in these cyber attacks. Concurrently, the U.S. has sanctioned two Iranian companies, 'Ofogh No' and 'Net Paygard Samavat,' along with several individuals associated with them. The Department of Justice states that Ms. White traveled to Iran in February 2012 to attend a conference on 'Hollywoodism,' which was organized by Ofogh No and sponsored by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Department also indicated that the FBI had warned Ms. White about her relationship with Iran. According to the indictment, an individual from Iran, referred to as 'A,' traveled to the U.S. in 2012 and hired Monica White to produce an anti-American film. U.S. officials claim that after fleeing to Iran in 2013, Monica White provided Iran with classified information about U.S. Air Force intelligence officers she had worked with during her service. Monica White is currently free, and her exact whereabouts are unknown. U.S. officials stated that the 39-year-old White was recruited by Iranian security agencies after attending two conferences in Tehran organized by Ofogh No, which collaborates with the IRGC's Quds Force in gathering security information from foreign participants at these events. Monica White served as a counterintelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force from 1997 to 2008 and subsequently worked as a contractor for two years, during which she had access to highly classified information, learned Persian at a U.S. Army language school, and was deployed to the Middle East for counterintelligence missions. According to the indictment, the Iranian company 'Net Paygard' launched a campaign of cyber attacks against Ms. White's former colleagues in 2014 using information provided by her. The goal of this campaign was to track and identify important information and activities using fake social media accounts and other deceptive methods to install malware on these individuals' computers. U.S. officials added that 'Net Paygard' targeted current and former employees as well as personnel of the U.S. armed forces in its cyber attacks. As a result of this indictment, Monica White faces charges including espionage and conspiracy. Several Iranian citizens, including Mojtaba Masoum Pour, Behzad Masri, Hossein Parvar, and Mohammad Pariyar, have also been charged with computer intrusion and identity theft.