Monica Witt: The Defection of an American Intel Agent

Monica Elfriede Witt is a former United States Air Force intelligence specialist and counterintelligence agent who defected to Iran in 2013 and is wanted for espionage. Born in El Paso, Texas, in 1979, Witt enlisted in the military in 1997 and received training in the Persian language (Farsi). She served as an Airborne Cryptologic Language Analyst, deploying to the Middle East to conduct classified signals intelligence missions during the early days of the Iraq War. Later, she was assigned to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) as a special agent focusing on criminal investigations and counterintelligence. During her military service, she held a top-secret security clearance and had access to highly classified Special Access Programs (SAP) that included details of ongoing counterintelligence operations and the true identities of undercover assets.After separating from the Air Force in 2008, Witt worked as a defense contractor until 2010, continuing to hold high-level clearances. She subsequently earned a master's degree in Middle East studies. During this period, she became increasingly disillusioned with the U.S. government, expressing severe distress over military actions, drone strikes, and perceived corruption she witnessed during her combat deployments.In February 2012, Witt traveled to Tehran to attend the "Hollywoodism" conference, an event sponsored by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that promoted anti-American propaganda. During this trip, she appeared in televised videos criticizing the U.S. government and publicly converted to Islam. Although the FBI warned her shortly after this trip that she was a target for Iranian intelligence recruitment, she assured federal agents she would not divulge sensitive information. However, she soon began communicating with an Iranian-American operative and actively sought to defect, even threatening to leak information to WikiLeaks or flee to Russia like Edward Snowden if Iran did not assist her.Witt successfully defected to Iran in August 2013. Upon her arrival, the Iranian government provided her with housing and computer equipment to facilitate her work on their behalf. She immediately disclosed highly classified intelligence, including the code name and mission of a U.S. Department of Defense special access program and the true identity of a U.S. intelligence officer, putting that individual's life at severe risk.Furthermore, Witt utilized fraudulent social media accounts to conduct research on her former military and intelligence colleagues. She compiled this research into "target packages" for the Iranian regime, which enabled hackers affiliated with the IRGC to launch spear-phishing campaigns and deploy malware against U.S. intelligence personnel.In February 2019, a federal grand jury unsealed an indictment charging Witt with multiple counts of espionage, fraud, and aiding and abetting. Concurrently, four Iranian hackers were indicted for utilizing the information Witt provided to target her former colleagues. Witt remains a fugitive at large, believed to be residing in Iran. The FBI considers her a significant threat to national security and has offered a $200,000 reward for information leading to her apprehension and prosecution.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-world-between-us--6886561/support.