A former US government contractor has admitted passing classified intelligence to Ethiopia that officials used in military operations, the US Justice Department said Tuesday.
Abraham Teklu Lemma, 54, supplied secrets to senior Ethiopian officials for more than two years, according to the US attorney’s office in Washington.
Lemma, of Silver Spring, Maryland, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to transmit national defense information to a foreign government.
He worked as an information technology contractor at the State Department, Justice Department and National Reconnaissance Office, prosecutors said.
Ethiopia’s military and intelligence
According to prosecutors, the information reached Ethiopia’s military and intelligence branches between 2021 and August 2023, when he was arrested.
Prosecutors described a December 2021 message in which Lemma pressed an Ethiopian contact to act against their government opponents.
The Ethiopian government has not released any public statements on the case.
An FBI counterintelligence official, Roman Rozhavsky, said Lemma admitted that Ethiopian officials used the intelligence he supplied in military operations.
The Justice Department statement did not publicly reveal the specific operations or say whether anyone was killed as a result of the intelligence breach.
Top-secret satellite imagery
An FBI affidavit filed in 2023 alleged that Lemma sent top-secret satellite imagery and classified reports through an encrypted messaging application to Ethiopian government operatives.
The US statements did not name any of the armed groups that the Ethiopian government targeted with Lemma’s intelligence.
His plea agreement with US federal prosecutors provides for a prison term of between 10 years and 21 years and 10 months, subject to the court accepting.
Lemma is due to be sentenced on April 14, 2027, the Justice Department said.
