US charges former air force intel agent with defecting to Iran

The US Justice Department charged a former Air Force intelligence official Wednesday with spying for Iran, saying she exposed a fellow US agent and helped the Revolutionary Guard target her former colleagues with cyber-attacks.

US officials said Monica Witt, who worked for years in US Air Force counterintelligence, had an “ideological” turn against her country and defected in 2013, turning over information on US intelligence operations against Tehran.

“It is a sad day for America when one of its citizens betrays our country,” said Assistant Attorney General John Demers, announcing the indictment, Al-Arabiya reported.

“This case underscores the dangers to our intelligence professionals and the lengths our adversaries will go to identify them, expose them, target them, and, in a few rare cases, ultimately turn them against the nation they swore to protect,” he said.