Cracking empire: FBI offer huge bounty for ex-military operative who defected to Iran

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has offered a huge bounty for a former US military intelligence operative who defected to Iran. Monica Elfriede Witt is wanted on espionage charges. Witt used to work for air force intelligence and had high-level clearance.

The FBI announced on 15 May that it was offering:

a $200,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension and prosecution of Monica Witt, a former U.S. service member and counterintelligence agent who was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia in February 2019 on charges of espionage, including transmitting national defense information to the government of Iran.

The agency described Witt as:

a former active-duty U.S. Air Force intelligence specialist and special agent for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, served in the military between 1997 and 2008 before working as a U.S. government contractor until 2010.

Adding that her military service and later contracting work:

provided her access to SECRET and TOP SECRET information relating to foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, including the true names of U.S. Intelligence Community undercover personnel.

The FBI said Witt defected in 2013, giving secrets to Iran.

FBI has not forgotten, not forgiven

Daniel Wierzbicki of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Cyber Division, went full divorced dad fire and brimstone:

Monica Witt allegedly betrayed her oath to the Constitution more than a decade ago by defecting to Iran and providing the Iranian regime National Defense Information and likely continues to support their nefarious activities.

Adding:

The FBI has not forgotten and believes that during this critical moment in Iran’s history, there is someone who knows something about her whereabouts. The FBI wants to hear from you so you can help us apprehend Witt and bring her to justice.

In 2019, the BBC reported that Witt took a Persian language course while serving and later worked for a private defence firm for years after leaving the military. Her contracted role involved consulting on:

“Iranian subject matter” and providing “language and cultural specialisation”.

In a later role at another military firm she:

“supervised, controlled, and co-ordinated the execution of highly sensitive counterintelligence operations against foreign intelligence services worldwide”.

The US and Israel attacked Iran first on 28 February without provocation. Iran was offering unprecedented concessions in negotiations at the time. The Pentagon has since stated there was no imminent threat from Iran. And the UN’s atomic watchdog, the IAEA, has said there is no evidence Iran was developing a nuclear weapon.

The Iranian government remains intact despite months of intensive US and Israeli attacks. The US-Israeli attack’s main achievement seems to be a global energy crisis after Iran predictably closed the straits of Hormuz, a vital oil channel.

It’s not clear why the bounty on Witt has suddenly been raised — she has been on the run since 2013, after all — though it may well have some connection to US president Donald Trump’s badly-backfiring war…

Featured image via theTimes