US government contractor arrested on espionage charges

The US Department of Justice (‘DoJ’) says that a US government contractor, arrested on 24 August, is being charged with espionage.

‘Abraham Teklu Lemma, 50, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Ethiopian descent, of Silver Spring, Maryland, is charged with delivering national defense information to aid a foreign government, conspiracy to deliver national defense information to aid a foreign government, and the willful retention of national defense information.’

DoJ says it is alleged that between late December 2022, and August 2023, ‘Lemma copied classified information from intelligence reports and deleted the classification markings from them. Lemma then removed the information, which was classified as SECRET and TOP SECRET, from secure facilities at the Department of State. This material related to a specific country and/or geographic region. Lemma accessed, copied, removed, and retained this information without authorization.’

It said that he allegedly used an encrypted application ‘to transmit classified national defense information to a foreign government official associated with a foreign country’s intelligence service,’ and that in his communications, ‘expressed an interest and willingness to assist the foreign government official by providing information.’

It said that the two espionage charges ‘carry a potential penalty of death or any term of years up to life in prison, and the willful retention charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.’