Former US contractor admits passing classified intelligence to Ethiopia

An Ethiopian-born American who worked as a US government contractor has pleaded guilty to conspiring to transmit national defence information to a foreign government. Abraham Teklu Lemma admitted supplying Ethiopia with highly classified material, including intelligence he hoped would help its military locate and kill paramilitary fighters during the country's civil war.

The US Department of Justice said Lemma, 54, passed dozens of classified documents and photographs to senior Ethiopian officials over more than two years. His plea agreement carries a possible prison sentence of up to 22 years. He is scheduled to be sentenced on 14 April 2027.

Lemma held contractor roles at the State Department, Justice Department and National Reconnaissance Office, which oversees US intelligence satellites. According to prosecutors, he worked with senior Ethiopian political, military and intelligence figures from 2021 until his arrest in Maryland in August 2023.

Prosecutors described several methods he used to take classified information out of secure government premises. He sometimes transcribed sensitive material into handwritten notes and carried them outside. His work as an IT administrator also enabled him to extract electronic intelligence files. Satellite images and information about military activity were among the material sent to Ethiopian officials through encrypted messages.

Much of the intelligence related to the conflict in Ethiopia, prosecutors said. The FBI said Ethiopian officials later used information Lemma supplied in military operations. Prosecutors said his intention was to help the Ethiopian military identify and kill paramilitary fighters.

Court papers included a December 2021 message in which Lemma told an Ethiopian official: "We have to finish these people once and for all, otherwise there will never be peace in Ethiopia." He supplied more intelligence later that day and urged the official to send drones.

His arrest followed an investigation into his handling of classified intelligence. Prosecutors alleged at the time that he had stripped security markings from intelligence reports and passed information to a foreign intelligence official. US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said he had abused his access to highly sensitive American intelligence, betrayed his colleagues and country, and endangered national security.

The war began in November 2020, bringing Ethiopian federal forces and their allies into conflict with fighters from the northern Tigray region. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed and millions were displaced during the two-year conflict, which was accompanied by widespread allegations of massacres, sexual violence and attacks on civilians. An agreement signed in November 2022 brought the main fighting to an end, but tensions and insecurity have continued.