U.S. charges former air force officer with Iran-related espionage

Also charged by the Justice Department are 4 Iranians
Thomson Reuters · Posted: Feb 13, 2019 11:45 AM ET | Last Updated: an hour ago

This 2012 photo released by the U.S. Department of Justice shows Monica Elfriede Witt. The Justice Department on Wednesday announced an indictment against Witt, who defected to Iran in 2013. (Department of Justice via Associated Press)
The United States on Wednesday indicted former U.S. air force officer Monica Witt for aiding Iran in what Washington characterized as a cyberspying operation targeting American intelligence officers.

As part of its action, the United States sanctioned two Iran-based firms — New Horizon Organization and Net Peygard Samavat Company — and several individuals associated with the two groups.

U.S. officials said Witt supplied classified information about U.S. intelligence officers after defecting to Iran in 2013.

The U.S. Treasury said Net Peygard targeted current and former U.S. government and military personnel with a malicious cyber campaign, and it said New Horizon had organized international conferences supporting efforts by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force to recruit and collect intelligence from foreign attendees.

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Also charged are four Iranian hackers allegedly working on behalf of the Quds. Prosecutors say they targeted at least eight former colleagues of Witt’s in the intelligence community.

“It is a sad day for America when one of its citizens betrays our country,” said assistant attorney general John Demers, the head of the Justice Department’s national security division.

Witt is still believed to be in Iran, which does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.

Jay Tabb, the FBI’s top national security official, said the FBI had warned Witt before her defection there that she was a vulnerable target for recruitment by Iranian intelligence but that Witt had ignored those warnings.

With files from Associated Press

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