Asif William Rahman

Asif William Rahman, (born 18 September 1990), is an Iranian Muslim of Vienna, former CIA analyst who shared top secret documents on social media and then tried to cover his tracks by destroying his personal devices. He is facing a maximum term of 10 years behind bars after pleading guilty on Jan 17, 2024, to two counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information related to national defense.

A CIA employee since 2016, Rahman “repeatedly” accessed and printed out classified documents, before taking them home where he altered them to try to conceal their source, according to the DoJ.

The included two top secret documents about Israel’s military plans to hit back at Iran following the latter’s massive ballistic missile strike on October 1, 2024. Publication of the documents on social media was an embarrassment to the Pentagon, as it revealed the US spying on a nominal ally at a time of tremendous geopolitical tension in the Middle East.^[1]

Asif William Rahman, was an employee of the CIA since 2016 and had a Top-Secret security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI). ^[2]

In November 2014, the FBI arrested Rahman in Cambodia. ^[3]

Per the Justice Department: On Oct. 1 [2024], Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel—its second direct attack on the Jewish state. Israel intercepted most of the missiles with U.S. and Jordanian military support. It stated that per court documents, Rahman accessed and printed two top secret documents on Oct. 17 about “a U.S. foreign ally and its planned actions against a foreign adversary.”

He will be sentenced on May 15, 2025 and faces up to 10 years in prison. ^[4]

• Asif Merchant
• Iran