In a case of espionage for Ethiopia, the US Department of Justice reveals details of what a contractor who pleaded guilty did

The US Department of Justice revealed details of the case of a former contractor with the US government pleading guilty to a case of espionage on behalf of Ethiopia, shedding light on the nature of the information he shared and its importance. This came in a statement by the US Department of Justice, on Tuesday, in which it said: “US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro announced that Abraham Teklo Lemma, 54 years old - a former information technology contractor for the US Department of State, the US Department of Justice, and the National Reconnaissance Bureau - today pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage on behalf of the government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.”

According to court documents, Lemma, a resident of Silver Spring, Maryland, had a Top Secret US security clearance, and from 2021 until his arrest in August 2023, Lemma conspired with senior officials in the Ethiopian government to collect and transfer dozens of top-secret documents, notes, materials, and photographs, which were classified as “Top Secret/Restricted Sensitive Information,” to Ethiopian government officials. Top secret are those whose unauthorized disclosure would likely cause extremely serious harm to the national security of the United States.

The statement went on to say: “A significant portion of the highly classified information that Lemma shared with the Ethiopian government related to an ongoing armed conflict in Ethiopia. The list of Lemma’s conspirators included high-ranking officials in the political, military, and intelligence services of the Ethiopian government. During his espionage activities, Lemma took numerous steps to conceal his actions, and secretly smuggled confidential documents and information from the possession of the US government.”

The US Justice Department continued in its statement: “More specifically, Lima wrote down classified information in his own handwriting, then extracted these notes from secured US government facilities. In addition, in his capacity as an information technology officer, Lima extracted electronic copies of classified information from classified US government data repositories, and then removed that same information from the secured US government facilities in which he worked.”

She added: “On some occasions, Lemma encouraged his co-conspirators within the Ethiopian government to take direct action against paramilitary groups that were fighting the Ethiopian government. For example, on December 18, 2021, Lemma told one of his co-conspirators: ‘We have to eliminate these people once and for all, otherwise peace will never be achieved in Ethiopia.’” Later that same day, Lemma shared additional information with his co-conspirator, writing to him: “Please Sending drones.

The department continued in its statement, stating: “Pursuant to the plea agreement, Lima agreed to plead guilty to the charge of conspiracy to transmit information related to national defense to a foreign government, in violation of Section 794 of Title 18 of the United States Code. If the court accepts this agreement, Lima agreed to be sentenced to imprisonment for a period ranging from 120 to 262 months.”