FBI Offers $200K for Ex-Air Force Officer Charged with Spying

The FBI has offered a $200,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Monica Elfriede Witt, a former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran in 2013 and was later charged with espionage. According to multiple reports, Witt, 47, from El Paso, Texas, was indicted by a federal grand jury in February 2019 on charges of transmitting national defense information to the Iranian government.

Witt served in the Air Force between 1997 and 2008, where she was trained in the Farsi language and deployed overseas on classified counterintelligence missions. She later worked as a Defense Department contractor until 2010. The FBI alleges that Witt defected to Iran after attending conferences promoting anti-Western propaganda.

The indictment states that Witt placed sensitive and classified U.S. national defense information at risk, endangering U.S. personnel and their families stationed abroad. She is also accused of conducting research on behalf of the Iranian regime to target her former colleagues in the U.S. government. According to CBS News, Witt worked with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite military force tasked with expanding Tehran's influence globally.

Daniel Wierzbicki, special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Counterintelligence and Cyber Division, stated that Witt allegedly betrayed her oath to the Constitution by defecting to Iran. The FBI believes that someone knows something about her whereabouts and is urging anyone with information to come forward.

The FBI press release said that Witt allegedly intentionally provided information endangering U.S. personnel and their families stationed abroad. She also allegedly conducted research on behalf of the Iranian regime to allow them to target her former colleagues in the U.S. government.

Witt remains at large and may be using aliases, including Fatemah Zahra or Narges Witt. Anyone with information about Witt is asked to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. Tips can also be shared with local FBI offices, the nearest American embassy or consulate, or submitted via tips.fbi.gov.

According to Fox News, Witt was assigned to an RC-135 reconnaissance airplane crew and attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, where she learned Persian Farsi. She was deployed to several overseas locations, including Saudi Arabia in 2002, Iraq in 2005, and Qatar in 2006.

Witt's time as a member of the Air Force came to an end in 2008. From 2008 until 2010, Witt was employed as a government contractor but worked with AFOSI. The New York Times reported that Witt received a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland in 2008 and enrolled in a graduate program at George Washington University in Middle East studies.

In February 2012, just before she graduated from George Washington University, the government says Witt set her plans to betray the United States and defect to Iran in motion. She traveled to Iran that month to attend the International Conference on Hollywoodism in Tehran, an anti-western event held during the Fajr International Film Festival each year.

During that trip, she is accused of providing her 'bona fides' to the IRGC in order to establish that she was a credible source of American national defense intelligence and that she disclosed government secrets to them. She was not invited to the Hollywoodism, but was allowed to speak anyway.