Former Air Force Officer accused of spying for Iran
SUMMARY
The U.S. Justice Department has indicted a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer for aiding Iran in what Washington says was a cyberespionage operation targeting U.S. intelligence officers.
The indictment said Monica Witt exposed a U.S. agent and helped Iran's Revolutionary Guards develop cybertargets in the U.S. military after defecting to Iran in 2013.
U.S. officials said Witt, who worked for years in U.S. Air Force counterintelligence, had an "ideological" turn against her country.
As part of its action on Feb. 13, 2019, the United States also charged four Iranian nationals who it said were involved in the cyberattacks.
It also sanctioned two Iran-based companies: New Horizon Organization and Net Peygard Samavat Company.
The U.S. Treasury said Net Peygard targeted current and former U.S. government and military personnel with a malicious cybercampaign, while New Horizon had staged international gatherings to back efforts by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' Quds Force to recruit and collect intelligence from foreign participants.
Witt herself was recruited by Iran after attending two international conferences organized by New Horizon, U.S. officials said.
They said Witt served as a counterintelligence officer in the air force from 1997 until 2008, and worked as contractor for two years after that.
This article originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Follow @RFERL on Twitter.
