But this case has wrapped up fairly quickly and is hardly being reported on.
According to court documents, Mariam Taha Thompson, 63, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, worked as a contract linguist at an overseas U.S. military facility where she was entrusted with a top secret government security clearance. Thompson pleaded guilty to transmitting highly sensitive classified national defense information to a foreign national who she believed would provide the information to Lebanese Hizballah, a designated foreign terrorist organization.
“It’s astounding that an American working for the U.S. military overseas would abandon her country in favor of terrorists,” said Assistant Director Alan E. Kohler Jr. for the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. “The FBI and its partners placed a high priority on this case because the defendant provided classified defense information to a foreign terrorist organization, information that put members of the U.S. military in harm’s way.”
Is it really astounding that a Lebanese immigrant picked her country over the United States? Especially when her Hezbollah boyfriend told her to? The only “astounding” part is that the United States government put someone like her in such a sensitive position. No other country would be this stupid.
During today’s plea hearing, Thompson admitted that, beginning in 2017, she started communicating with her unindicted co-conspirator using a video-chat feature on a secure text and voice messaging application. Over time, Thompson developed a romantic interest in her co-conspirator. Thompson learned that the unindicted co-conspirator had a family member who was in the Lebanese Ministry of the Interior, and that the unindicted co-conspirator claimed to have received a ring from Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Lebanese Hizballah.
In December 2019, while Thompson was assigned to a special operations task force facility in Iraq, the United States launched a series of airstrikes in Iraq targeting Kata’ib Hizballah, an Iranian-backed foreign terrorist organization. These airstrikes culminated in a Jan. 3, 2020, strike that resulted in the death of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Qasem Suleimani, as well as the founder of Kata’ib Hizballah, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Following Suleimani’s death, the unindicted co-conspirator started asking Thompson to provide “them” with information about the human assets who had helped the United States to target Suleimani. Thompson admitted that she understood “them” to be Lebanese Hizballah, including an unnamed high-ranking military commander.
After receiving this request for information in early January 2020, Thompson began accessing dozens of files concerning human intelligence sources, including true names, personal identification data, background information and photographs of the human assets, as well as operational cables detailing information the assets provided to the U.S. government. Thompson used several techniques to pass this information on to the unindicted co-conspirator, who told her that his contacts were pleased with the information, and that the Lebanese Hizballah military commander wanted to meet Thompson when she came to Lebanon.
When she was arrested by the FBI on Feb. 27, 2020, Thompson had used her access to classified national defense information to provide her co-conspirator with the identities of at least 10 clandestine human assets; at least 20 U.S. targets; and multiple tactics, techniques and procedures. Thompson intended and had reason to believe that this classified national defense information would be used to the injury of the United States and to the advantage of Lebanese Hizballah.
When it says Hezbollah, that obviously means Iran. Tehran is the command hub for Shiite terrorist groups. That’s why Hezbollah was interested in what was going on in the battlespace with Iran.
In 2017, a family member introduced THOMPSON to a Lebanese national (hereinafter “the unindicted coconspirator”). This introduction was made through social media. THOMPSON believed that the unindicted coconspirator was a wealthy and well-connected Lebanese national.
Thompson also learned that the unindicted coconspirator was a Shia Muslim and that he claimed to have contact with members of Lebanese Hizballah. During one conversation, the unindicted coconspirator told THOMPSON that he had received a ring from Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Lebanese Hizballah.
Will any lessons be learned from this? Don’t count on it.
wpm says
Something this big and being high treason should warrant a death sentence. With house plant Biden as President she could be pardon and his handles could put her into a position cabinet post?
mortimer says
The question in this case was not Islam per se, but loyalty. The loyalty of Mariam Taha Thompson was to the HEZBOLLAH terrorist organization, rather than to the country to which she swore an oath of allegiance.
Mariam Taha Thompson was a traitor. Many Muslims will see her as a hero … I know this from experience.
Most Muslims will not criticize her even in private, because criticizing a fellow Muslim is un-Islamic.
Tony Naim says
Nationalism is a European idea imported to the Middle East. An area of the world where loyalty is primarily to religion and / or tribal affiliation. Reason for Israel’s perpetual rejection and forced immigration of Christians from there. Nationalism means nothing to any of the peoples there. Zilch. Zero.
Lebanon, the country or the idea, made by France, exists only on paper. Hizballa is Shi’a Iranian,it does not give a damn about Lebanon or non-Shi’a who live in what is known to be the geography of Lebanon.
Mariam Taha’s heart belongs to the religion she was brought up on-sadly, the Thompson part is a later addition that had no impact on her self identity. Loyalty is to religion, not nationalism.
gravenimage says
Israel is not forcing Christians to emigrate, Tony–this is mistaken. In fact, Israel is the *only* place in the Middle East where Christians have equal rights.
But “Palestinian” Muslims *are* pushing Christians out of places like Bethlehem in the “Palestinian territories”, and there are almost no Christians surviving in Gaza–less than 1,300.
Lion heart says
Iraqi Muslims did the same when worked as interpreters with us army ! And they betrayed the Americans by snitching on them to their fellow Islamic terrorists through texting about the whereabouts of the American military convoys so that the terrorists would ambush them and kill as many Americans as possible while sparing the lives of their fellow Muslims! Never trust Muslims and i am a Canadian Christian guy originally from Iraq
gravenimage says
Grimly true.
gravenimage says
Lebanese Immigrant Pleads Guilty to Sending Classified Info to Hezbollah/Iran
…………….
*No one* should be surprised by this.
jewdog says
As a contractor for the DOD, I can tell you that we constantly are required to take security courses involving threat assessment, and specifically how to spot potential signs in someone who could be a security risk. It may have been the case that this person did not show any of the usual signs of trouble, such as sudden wealth, marital problems, more frequent foreign travel, mood changes etc. Yet, given the incredibly sensitive nature of her job, I would think that she would have been required to get a top secret clearance. A TS involves an in depth investigation of neighbors, former employers, signs of disloyal attachments etc. The truth is that the deliberate cluelessness of our government bureaucracy about Islam thanks to PC obfuscation or general ignorance was probably the main reason why she wasn’t flagged.
James Lincoln says
jewdog,
You are correct regarding security clearances.
Top-secret clearance takes a LOT of work, documentation, etc., to get and maintain. I had a TOP SECRET for a limited time when on active duty Navy. At the time, I was in charge of the medical aspect of the PRP Personnel Reliability Program of a U.S. Navy Air Wing.
After completing my work, my security clearance throttled back to a SECRET.
Giacomo Latta says
‘“It’s astounding that an American working for the U.S. military overseas would abandon her country in favor of terrorists,” said Assistant Director Alan E. Kohler Jr. for the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.’
Well, Mr. Kohler is definitely working in the right Division. He doesn’t seem to realize that the term American-Muslim as in CAIR does not refer to muslims that have now become American, as in americanized, but rather a sepatation of Islam from America in which muslims have their own parallel society.
gravenimage says
Yep.