Former US contractor admits passing classified intelligence to Ethiopia during civil war
Abraham Teklu Lemma, an Ethiopian-born American citizen, pleaded guilty to transmitting national defence information to Ethiopia, including intelligence he hoped would help target fighters during the country's civil war. He faces up to 22 years in prison under a plea agreement, with sentencing scheduled for April 2027.
BBC World
An Ethiopian-born American citizen has pleaded guilty to passing highly classified US intelligence to Ethiopia, including information he hoped would help target and kill fighters during the country's 2020 civil war.
Abraham Teklu Lemma, a 54-year-old former US contractor, admitted sharing dozens of classified documents and photographs with senior Ethiopian officials over more than two years, according to the US Department of Justice. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to transmit national defence information to a foreign government.
"In doing so, he betrayed his oath, his colleagues, and his country, while jeopardizing our national security," said US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Lemma had worked as a contractor at the State Department, the Justice Department and the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency responsible for US intelligence satellites. Prosecutors said he worked with senior figures in Ethiopia's political, military and intelligence establishments between 2021 and his arrest in August 2023.
He secretly removed classified material from secure government facilities, at times copying sensitive information into handwritten notes that he carried out of buildings. He also used his position as an IT administrator to extract electronic intelligence files. Prosecutors said much of the highly classified information he shared concerned the armed conflict in Ethiopia, including satellite imagery and details of military activities, which he passed to Ethiopian officials through encrypted messages.
The FBI said Ethiopian officials subsequently used the intelligence supplied by Lemma in military operations. Prosecutors said he hoped the information would help Ethiopia's military identify and kill paramilitary fighters. In one message to an Ethiopian official in December 2021, he wrote: "We have to finish these people once and for all, otherwise there will never be peace in Ethiopia," court papers showed. Later that day, he shared further intelligence and urged the official: "Please send Dro[nes]."
"Lemma betrayed the United States to an extraordinary degree," said John Eisenberg, the US assistant attorney general for national security.
Lemma was arrested in Maryland in August 2023 following an investigation into his handling of classified intelligence. At the time, prosecutors alleged he had removed security markings from intelligence reports and shared information with a foreign intelligence official. In one exchange, the official asked him to continue providing assistance, to which Lemma replied: "Roger that!"
The revelations shed light on how sensitive American intelligence was passed to Ethiopian authorities during a devastating two-year civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions. The conflict, which began in November 2020, pitted Ethiopian federal forces and their allies against fighters from the northern Tigray region, and was marked by widespread allegations of atrocities, including massacres, sexual violence and attacks on civilians. A peace agreement signed in November 2022 ended the main fighting, although tensions and insecurity have persisted.
Lemma faces up to 22 years in prison under the plea agreement. His sentencing is scheduled for 14 April 2027.