FBI Offers $200,000 for Information on Former Air Force Agent Accused of Espionage

The FBI announced on Thursday a reward of $200,000 for any information that could help arrest and prosecute a former American airman accused of espionage. Monica Witt, 47, known by other names including Fatema Zarah and Narges Witt, was indicted on espionage charges in Washington, D.C. back in 2018. She defected to Iran and is alleged to have shared classified details with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

So, what do we know about Witt’s alleged activities as an operative for Iran?

Background

Witt, who hails from El Paso, Texas, enlisted in the Air Force shortly after turning 18, in 1997. Reportedly, she was part of a crew for an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft. The indictment states that from 1998 to 1999, she was stationed at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, where she learned Farsi.

Between May 1999 and November 2003, Witt was deployed on several classified missions abroad to gather signals intelligence, including a trip to Saudi Arabia in 2002. During her career, she worked as a special agent criminal investigator and counterintelligence officer with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI), having been deployed to various parts of the Middle East. This included Iraq in 2005 and Qatar in 2006.

Witt had high-level clearance as part of the Special Access Program (SAP), which allowed her access to sensitive information, including ongoing counterintelligence operations and the identities of American operatives.

Her career in the Air Force ended in 2008.

Post-Military Life

After leaving the military, Witt worked as a government contractor with AFOSI from 2008 to 2010. In 2008, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and soon enrolled in a graduate program studying Middle Eastern studies at George Washington University. Her classmates described her as somewhat reclusive and distant.

It was around this time, in February 2012, just before her graduation, that the U.S. government revealed her intention to flee to Iran.

In the same month, she attended an anti-Western event in Tehran, where she allegedly shared sensitive information with the Revolutionary Guards to establish her credibility as a source of U.S. military information.

Connections in Iran

During that trip, she made statements critical of the U.S. government, knowing they would be broadcast by Iranian media, and her conversion to Islam was also documented on state television. Notably, as she was finishing up her degree, the FBI flagged her as a potential target for recruitment by Iranian intelligence.

By the time she defected, Witt had reportedly fallen victim to a spotter, a recruiter for a foreign intelligence agency—specifically, Iran. The indictment identifies a figure involved as “Individual A,” with reports suggesting this individual is Marziyeh Hashemi, a journalist and state television broadcaster who even collaborated with Witt on an anti-American propaganda film.

Allegations After Defection

Following Witt’s defection, she allegedly provided critical U.S. intelligence to Iranian officials and worked on developing plans for cyber operations against the U.S. Her case was part of a broader conspiracy involving hacking operations aimed at U.S. intelligence services.

Witt faces several serious charges, including transmitting national defense information to Iranian representatives and computer intrusion. As stated by Daniel Wierzbicki, a special agent in the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division, “Monica Witt betrayed her oath to the Constitution more than a decade ago by defecting to Iran… The FBI believes that someone knows something that could lead to her arrest.”