US defense contractor charged with transmitting classified information to a foreign national with ties to Hezbollah
A US Defense Department contractor who worked in the Middle East has been charged with transmitting highly sensitive classified national defense information to a foreign national with apparent connections to Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Mariam Taha Thompson, 61, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, was arrested last week and charged in the District of Columbia.
Thompson is alleged to have given “sensitive national defense information, including the names of individuals helping the United States, to a Lebanese national located overseas,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers. The Department of Justice said the action occurred in a war zone.
“If true, this conduct is a disgrace, especially for someone serving as a contractor with the United States military. This betrayal of country and colleagues will be punished,” Demers added.
Thompson was flown back to the US this week, according to two US officials familiar with the matter.
“The Department of Defense is aware that the Department of Justice charged a DoD contractor with serious criminal offenses. DoD will continue to cooperate with the DOJ throughout its investigation,” said Alyssa Farah, press secretary for the Department of Defense. “DoD is taking all necessary precautions to protect its forces and its intelligence sources. At this time, we refer all questions on this matter to DOJ.”
Thompson worked as a contracted linguist for the US government at a special operations facility in Erbil, Iraq, beginning in mid-December 2019.
But on December 30, after a US airstrike on Iranian-backed forces in Iraq, Thompson’s activity on the Department of Defense network made a “notable shift” when she accessed filed about eight spying sources, according to charging documents released on Wednesday.
The FBI in February discovered a note in Arabic hidden in her mattress listing the names of the intelligence sources.
Thompson will be detained without bond until at least March 11, when she’ll appear in court again for another hearing about whether she’ll stay in jail as she awaits trial.
Her charges, if she is found guilty, carry potential life sentences that could also include the death penalty, magistrate judge Robin Meriweather told Thompson. Thompson has not yet entered a plea.
Prosecutor John Cummings said in court she poses “a grave and imminent threat to US assets in a military zone.”
In addition to the two charges announced Wednesday, Thompson also faces a charge of unlawfully possessing government information, a lesser offense than handing it over to a foreign country.
Thompson’s court appearance on Wednesday brought out a notable contingent of more than a dozen Justice Department officials, including DC US Attorney Tim Shea, who sat in the front row of the hearing after proudly greeting several members of the prosecution team.
Thompson is a US citizen but wasn’t born in the US.
Thompson, wearing gray pants, a gray shirt and a pink cardigan with her hair in a tight bun, rested her temples in her hand throughout the hearing. At one point, she seemed to misunderstand a question from the judge about medications she took.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
