Asif William Rahman has been charged with disseminating national security information, the US Department of Justice said.
A former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee has admitted to leaking classified documents Israel's plans to destroy Iran last year at a time of heightened tensions in the region where Israel is fighting Gaza and Lebanon.
In a statement on Friday, the US Department of Justice said Asif William Rahman, 34, pleaded guilty to two counts of “willfully retaining and disseminating classified information” related to national security.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 15 and faces up to 10 years in prison on both counts, according to the plea agreement.
“Mr. Rahman betrayed the trust of the American people by illegally sharing the national security information he swore to protect,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G Olsen said in a statement.
“Today's plea shows that the Department of Justice will not make efforts to quickly find and prosecute those who harm the United States by illegally disclosing our national security information.”
The FBI arrested Rahman – who the US government said had been a CIA operative since 2016 and had a Top-Secret security clearance – in Cambodia in November.
US media reported that American officials accused him of releasing documents prepared by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), which analyzes images and information collected by US spy satellites.
NGA also works in support of US secret services.
The documents, which appeared in October on the channel of the Telegram news program, showed that Israel had moved its weapons instead of carrying out a military attack in response to the Iranian missile attack on October 1.
Iran said this was done in revenge for the killing of the leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh in the capital of Iran, Tehran, and the assassination of a military commander in Iran.
Israel did its part your attack on several sites in Iran at the end of October.
Citing court documents, the Justice Department said on Friday that Rahman obtained and published two documents labeled “Top Secret” that contained national security information “regarding a US ally and plans to take action against a foreign adversary”.
“Rahman removed the documents, photocopied them, and sent them to people he knew were not supposed to receive them,” the department said.