Mariam Taha Thompson, Espionage, Minnesota 2023

A 62-year-old woman from Rochester, Minnesota, has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for her role in a high-stakes espionage case.

Mariam Taha Thompson, a former Defense Department linguist, was found guilty of delivering classified national defense information to aid a foreign government. The information in question was of the highest sensitivity, and Thompson's actions put the lives of American troops at risk.

According to court documents, Thompson worked as a contract linguist at an overseas U.S. military facility where she held a Top-Secret government security clearance. She began communicating with an unindicted co-conspirator in 2017, using a video-chat feature on a secure text and voice messaging application.

Over time, Thompson developed a romantic interest in her co-conspirator, who claimed to have ties to Lebanese Hezbollah. The defendant admitted that she believed the classified information she was passing would be provided to the terrorist organization.

The case against Thompson was a result of a joint effort by the FBI and the U.S. Intelligence Community. Authorities worked swiftly to safeguard national security information and hold accountable those who break the nation's trust.

Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers for the Justice Department's National Security Division stated that Thompson's sentence reflects the seriousness of her violation of the trust of the American people, human sources, and troops who worked alongside her.

Thompson's sentence serves as a clear warning to all clearance holders that violations of their oath will not be taken lightly, especially when they put lives at risk.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/defense-department-linguist-sentenced-23-years-prison-transmitting-highly-sensitive