Monica Witt, a former US Air Force counterintelligence officer, defected to Iran in 2013 and allegedly shared classified US national defense information with Iranian intelligence agencies, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) [1, 2, 3, 4].
The FBI announced on May 14 that it was offering a $200,000 reward for information leading to Witt's arrest and prosecution [5, 2, 3, 6]. FBI Special Agent Daniel Wierzbicki said, "The FBI has not forgotten and believes that during this critical moment in Iran's history, there is someone who knows something about her whereabouts. The FBI wants to hear from you so you can help us apprehend Witt and bring her to justice" [1].
Witt served in the US Air Force from 1997 to 2008 and remained a Defense Department contractor until 2010. She learned Persian Farsi at the Defense Language Institute and held overseas intelligence assignments in the Middle East [1, 3, 6, 4]. In 2012, she attended an Iran conference promoting anti-US propaganda and subsequently began collaborating with Iranian intelligence [1, 4].
After defecting, Iranian officials provided Witt with housing and computer equipment to support her intelligence activities [2, 4]. Authorities allege she helped Iranian hackers attack US military targets and used social media to collect intelligence [4]. Witt reportedly revealed classified program code names and details about US agents and their families, causing significant damage to US intelligence networks [4].
She may be using aliases including Fatemah Zahra and Narges Witt and is believed to still reside in Iran [1, 2, 3, 6]. Witt was indicted on federal espionage charges in Washington D.C. in 2018 or 2019 related to her sharing of classified information with Iran [1, 3, 6].
Wierzbicki said, "Monica Witt allegedly betrayed her oath to the Constitution more than a decade ago by defecting to Iran and providing the Iranian regime National Defense Information and likely continues to support their nefarious activities" [3]. Witt is 47 years old, approximately 5 feet 10 inches tall, and weighs about 120 pounds [1, 3, 6, 4].
