An Ethiopian-born U.S. citizen has pleaded guilty to transmitting highly classified intelligence to Ethiopia, including data he believed would aid in targeting and eliminating combatants during the 2020 civil war.
Abraham Teklu Lemma, a former U.S. contractor, acknowledged providing dozens of classified documents and photographs to senior Ethiopian officials over a period exceeding two years, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“In doing so, he violated his oath, betrayed his colleagues and nation, and endangered our national security,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
The 54‑year‑old faces a potential sentence of up to 22 years in prison under a plea agreement, with sentencing set for next April.
Lemma previously served as a contractor for the State Department, the Justice Department, and the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency that oversees U.S. intelligence satellites.
Prosecutors asserted that Lemma collaborated with senior officials in Ethiopia’s political, military, and intelligence sectors from 2021 until his arrest in August 2023.
He covertly removed classified material from secure government facilities, occasionally transcribing sensitive details into handwritten notes that he took from the premises. Leveraging his role as an IT administrator, he extracted electronic intelligence files.
Much of the highly classified information Lemma provided to the Ethiopian government pertained to the armed conflict within Ethiopia, prosecutors said.
The intelligence comprised satellite imagery and details of military operations, which he transmitted to Ethiopian officials via encrypted messages.
The FBI reported that Ethiopian officials later utilized the intelligence supplied by Lemma in their military operations.
Prosecutors said he hoped the information would enable Ethiopia’s military to identify and eliminate paramilitary fighters.
Lemma betrayed the United States to an extraordinary extent,” said John Eisenberg, the U.S. assistant attorney general for national security.
In a December 2021 message to an Ethiopian official, he wrote, “We must finish these people once and for all, otherwise there will never be peace in Ethiopia,” court papers showed.
Later that same day, he transmitted additional intelligence and urged the official, “Please send Dro[nes].”
