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An Ethiopian-American former US government contractor, Abraham Teklu Lemma, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to spy for Ethiopia, in a case that could see him jailed for up to 21 years.
The 53-year-old Lemma, of Maryland, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, November 3, to conspiracy to transmit national defence information to a foreign government, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.
Lemma, a former Information Technology contractor at the National Reconnaissance Office, the US Department of State and the US Department of Justice, held a Top Secret US security clearance and has agreed to a sentence of between 120 and 262 months in prison, if accepted by the court.
According to court documents, Lemma conspired with senior Ethiopian government officials from 2021 until his arrest in August 2023 to collect and transmit dozens of highly classified documents, notes, materials and photographs classified up to Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) level.
The DOJ said much of the information concerned an armed conflict in Ethiopia and that his co-conspirators included senior officials within the political, military and intelligence branches of the Ethiopian government.
US authorities said Lemma exploited his IT administrator access to remove classified information from secure facilities.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security, John A. Eisenberg said, “Lemma betrayed the United States to an extraordinary degree.
“He exploited his IT administrator access to remove classified national defence information, including Top Secret information, from a secure facility and transmitted it to Ethiopian government officials hoping they would use it to target and kill paramilitary fighters in a regional conflict.”
Eisenberg added, “Clearance holders pledge undivided loyalty to the United States and bear a legal and moral responsibility to protect classified information. Those who betray this trust will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
US Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Ferris Pirro, said Lemma abused a position of trust.
She said, “For more than two years, Lemma exploited a position of trust to provide highly classified US government information to a foreign government.
“In doing so, he betrayed his oath, his colleagues, and his country, while jeopardising our national security.”
The FBI said Lemma hand-wrote notes containing classified information and hand-carried them out of secure government facilities, while also removing electronic versions from classified repositories.
On some occasions, prosecutors said, Lemma encouraged Ethiopian officials to take direct military action.
On December 18, 2021, Lemma told one conspirator, “We have to finish these people once and for all, otherwise there will never be peace in Ethiopia.” Later that day, he wrote, “Please send Dro[nes].”
Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division said, “Despite swearing an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States, Abraham Lemma betrayed our country by committing espionage on behalf of the Ethiopian government.
“By his own admission, Lemma provided classified national defence information to Ethiopian officials, who then used it in military operations during an ongoing conflict.”
Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, Darren B. Cox, said, “Lemma abused his position of trust and access to some of our nation’s most highly classified information, conspiring with foreign government officials to unlawfully disclose materials protected to the highest level.”
Sentencing has been set for April 14, 2027.
