U.S. employee charged with leaking classified documents

Asif W. Rahman was arrested in Cambodia and transported to the U.S. territory of Guam, according to court documents obtained by WORLD. Authorities are seeking to move his case to the U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia, where he faces two charges of leaking national defense information, according to court documents filed Wednesday in Guam. Rahman was employed by the U.S. government and held top secret security clearance, according to the indictment. He is considered innocent until proven guilty in court.

The documents in question contained classified details about Israeli plans to attack Iranian targets, The New York Times first reported Wednesday.

What was this leak about? The indictment doesn’t describe the leaked documents. However, federal prosecutors allege that Rahman leaked the information on Oct. 17, the date of a notable leak of data about the Middle East conflict.

Iranian forces launched roughly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel last month. Before Israeli forces responded in kind, documents reportedly leaked on the social media and messaging site Telegram detailed the plans for how they would respond. House Majority Leader Mike Johnson, R-La., called the leak concerning, during a CNN interview. He promised that U.S. officials would investigate it.

Dig deeper: Read A.S. Ibrahim’s column in WORLD Opinions about how President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming term in the White House means there’s hope for peace in the Middle East.