U.S. Government Employee Accused of Leaking Classified Documents on Israel's Attack Plans Against Iran

A U.S. government employee has been accused of leaking classified information regarding assessments of Israel's previous plans to attack the Islamic Republic of Iran. According to court documents released on Wednesday, November 23, this man, named Asif William Rahman, was arrested this week by the FBI in Cambodia. He was charged last week in a Virginia court with two counts of willfully transmitting information related to 'national defense.' According to the Associated Press, being found guilty on these charges could lead to heavy prison sentences. It is still unclear which federal agency he was employed by, but officials say he had a security clearance to access highly classified information. Three U.S. officials had previously told the Associated Press that the United States is investigating the unauthorized release of classified documents assessing Israel's plans to attack the Islamic Republic of Iran. Another official confirmed that these documents appear to be credible. The documents were initially published online via a channel on Telegram, claiming to have been leaked by someone in the U.S. intelligence community and subsequently by the U.S. Department of Defense. The information in these documents was gathered from satellite image analysis. The Telegram channel involved in this leak identified itself as based in Tehran and had previously published propaganda content related to Ali Khamenei and Iran-backed militia groups.