The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has announced a $200,000 reward for information about Monica Witt, a defecting US Air Force officer accused of espionage for the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The special agent and counterintelligence specialist was charged in 2019 with espionage for allegedly leaking classified US intelligence information to Iran. The office said the officer has not been found since she defected in 2013.
Special Agent in Charge of the Cyber and Counterintelligence Division of the FBI Washington Field Office, 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 its whereabouts.”
He added: “The FBI wants to hear from you so they can help us arrest Witt and bring her to justice.”
Witt joined the USAF in 1997 and left in 2008; however, it remained a Department of Defense contractor until 2010.
He traveled to Iran to attend a conference aimed at criticizing American moral standards.
The FBI accused her of working with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the elite force formed after the 1979 revolution to expand the country’s influence around the world.
In addition to Witt, four Iranians were also charged in the same 2019 indictment with conspiracy and identity theft.
