Judge Denies Release To Cia Employee Accused Of Leaking Intel On Israel And Iran

A federal judge denied release Wednesday to a CIA employee charged with making public top secret intelligence about Israel’s plans to retaliate against Iran for a series of missile strikes in October.

Last week, a magistrate judge ruled that Asif Rahman, 34, could be released pending trial on two counts of violating the Espionage Act by retaining classified information and transmitting it to an unauthorized person.

However, after an hourlong hearing in federal court in Alexandria, U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles overturned the release order. She said Rahman posed a risk of flight and a danger to the community.

Prosecutors indicated last week that Israel had delayed its retaliation against Iran due to the leak. “The material that he has in his mind and that he has already revealed is highly relevant to foreign adversaries,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Troy Edwards said.

Giles agreed that the ongoing nature of the conflict in the Middle East increased the gravity of the charges against Rahman. “I take the government’s point that this is a kinetic situation. It’s a volatile situation … and that creates a different danger,” said the judge, an appointee of President Joe Biden.

Rahman’s lawyers noted that U.S. government officials, including a spokesperson for the National Security Council, downplayed the sensitivity of the information and the significance of the disclosures.

Edwards urged Giles not to give much weight to those statements, saying they were aimed at undermining U.S. adversaries and didn’t reflect the “true nature” of the intelligence Rahman is accused of leaking.

Defense attorney Amy Jeffress presented Giles with a plan to have Rahman’s family keep him off social media and the internet, but Giles said that wouldn’t mitigate the risk he might disclose national security secrets he knows by virtue of his CIA employment. “It’s possible to limit someone’s computer access, but you can’t stop him from talking,” said Giles.

Rahman will appeal the detention order, Jeffress told reporters after the hearing.

Numerous relatives and friends of Rahman attended the hearing. Among them was former Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr., who attended Yale with Rahman’s father, private equity investor Muhit Rahman.