Monica Elfriede Witt, a former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence specialist accused of defecting to Iran and later charged with exposing classified information to Tehran, remains wanted as the FBI announced a $200,000 reward for information that could lead to her capture and prosecution, according to an FBI news release highlighted by the Associated Press on Friday.
In the release, Daniel Wierzbicki, special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Counterintelligence and Cyber Division, said the FBI has not forgotten Witt’s case and believes someone has information about where she is, during what the bureau described as a critical moment in Iran’s history.
The FBI said Witt was indicted by a federal grand jury in February 2019 on espionage charges, including transmitting national defense information to the government of Iran. The bureau said Witt, 47, was later charged with revealing classified information to Tehran and has remained at large since then.
Wierzbicki said Witt “allegedly betrayed her oath to the Constitution more than a decade ago by defecting to Iran and providing the Iranian regime National Defense Information and likely continues to support their nefarious activities,” according to the FBI news release. The release also said the FBI is seeking information because “The FBI has not forgotten and believes that during this critical moment in Iran’s history, there is someone who knows something about her whereabouts.”
The Associated Press report said it was not immediately known why the FBI was bringing renewed attention to the case at this time. The report noted that the United States and Iran have been at war since Feb. 28.
According to the report, Witt served in the Air Force between 1997 and 2008, when she was trained in Farsi language and deployed overseas on classified counterintelligence missions, including in the Middle East. She later worked as a Defense Department contractor.
The report also said Witt, a Texas native, defected to Iran in 2013 after being invited to two all-expense-paid conferences in Iran that the Justice Department said promoted anti-Western propaganda and condemned American moral standards. Prosecutors said that before Witt defected, the FBI had warned her about her activities, and she told agents that she would not provide sensitive information if she returned to Iran.
The indictment described in the FBI release said Witt placed “sensitive and classified U.S. national defense information and programs” at risk, and the FBI said she “allegedly intentionally provided information endangering U.S personnel and their families stationed abroad.” The release also said Witt allegedly conducted research on behalf of the Iranian regime intended to allow it to target her former colleagues in the U.S. government.
The FBI’s reward offer is intended to spur tips from the public that could help locate Witt and bring her to court, according to the bureau’s announcement.