Government Contractor Arrested for Espionage, Allegedly Sending Classified Information to Ethiopia

Abraham Teklu Lemma, a government contractor and U.S. citizen of Ethiopian descent, has been charged with espionage for allegedly gathering and delivering national defense information to aid a foreign government. Lemma, who had a TOP SECRET security clearance, worked as an IT administrator for the Department of State and as a Management Analyst for the Department of Justice. He is accused of copying classified information from Intelligence Reports, removing classification markings, and transmitting the information to a foreign official associated with a specific country's intelligence service. The charges carry a potential sentence of death or life imprisonment. The case is being investigated by the FBI, the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service, and the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General.