• Military
• WMD

• Intelligence Menu               

• Systems
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Imagery
• Links

• Homeland Security
• Space

Abraham Teklu Lemma

A U.S. government contractor was arrested on 24 August 2023 based on espionage charges in a complaint. 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.

According to the criminal complaint, between on or about Dec. 19, 2022, and Aug. 7, 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.

According to the charging documents, Lemma used an encrypted application to transmit classified national defense information to a foreign government official associated with a foreign country's intelligence service. In these communications, Lemma expressed an interest and willingness to assist the foreign government official by providing information. In one communication, the foreign official stated, "[i]t's time to continue ur support." Lemma responded, "Roger that!" In other chats, the foreign official tasked Lemma to focus on information related to particular subjects, and Lemma responded "[a]bsolutely, I have been focusing on that all this week . . . ." As alleged in the criminal complaint, the classified national defense information Lemma transferred to the foreign official included satellite imagery and other information regarding military activities in the foreign country and region.

Lemma worked as a private contractor for more than one US federal agency, court filings said, and served as an IT administrator for the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research when the alleged crimes took place. Holding a “top secret” clearance, his job authorized him to access classified materials under certain circumstances, though he was required to seek formal approval before doing so. The suspect also worked a second job as a “contract management analyst” for the DOJ, which also provided him access to some secret files, the government claimed.

The Bureau was tipped off to the alleged spying scheme after security reviews in the wake of a major leak by Massachusetts National Guardsman Jack Teixeira earlier this year. The incident marked one of the largest intelligence breaches in US history, sending officials scrambling to determine how a large trove of secret documents wound up on the internet.

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. A federal judge will determine any sentence based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.