Overview
- The FBI, in a Thursday notice, asked the public for tips on Monica Witt and offered up to $200,000 for information leading to her arrest and prosecution.
- The bureau says Witt defected to Iran in 2013, remains at large, and likely continues to support Iranian activities.
- A federal grand jury indicted her in February 2019 on espionage charges, and four Iranian nationals were charged in a related case involving attempted computer intrusions and identity theft.
- Witt served as an Air Force intelligence specialist and special agent from 1997 to 2008 and later as a contractor, roles that gave her access to SECRET and TOP SECRET material including the true names of undercover U.S. officers.
- Prosecutors say Iranian officials housed and equipped her after she left the U.S., and the FBI says her alleged help benefited the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and enabled targeting of former U.S. colleagues and their families.