US Contractor Spied For Ethiopia, Handed Over Top-Secret Files On Armed Conflict

A former US government contractor with access to some of the country's most sensitive intelligence has pleaded guilty to conspiring to pass classified national defence information to Ethiopia, including material that could be used against armed groups fighting the government.

The US Department of Justice said on November 3 that Abraham Teklu Lemma, who worked as an IT contractor at the National Reconnaissance Office, the State Department and the Justice Department, had admitted to conspiring with senior Ethiopian officials to collect and transmit dozens of classified documents, notes, materials and photographs. Lemma held a Top Secret security clearance, and some of the information was classified at the Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) level.

According to the DOJ, the activity took place between 2021 and his arrest in August 2023. The information largely concerned an armed conflict in Ethiopia, and his contacts included senior officials from the country's political, military and intelligence branches.

The FBI said Ethiopian officials subsequently used the information in military operations. The DOJ also said Lemma encouraged his contacts to take direct action against paramilitary groups fighting the government. In a December 18, 2021 message to one official, he wrote: “We have to finish these people once and for all, otherwise there will never be peace in Ethiopia.” He later added: “Please send Drones.”

How The Information Was Passed

Lemma used his position as an IT administrator to remove classified information from secure US government systems, the DOJ said. He also copied classified material into handwritten notes and carried them out of secure facilities. The department said he took steps to conceal the activity and transferred the material to his Ethiopian contacts.

The case dates back to August 2023, when Lemma was arrested and charged with espionage-related offences. The original criminal complaint, made public in September that year, alleged that he had copied classified intelligence reports, removed their classification markings and used an encrypted messaging application to send information to a foreign official associated with the country's intelligence service. His guilty plea now relates to conspiring to transmit national defence information to a foreign government.

Ethiopia Conflict

The period covered by the DOJ's latest account overlapped with Ethiopia's Tigray conflict, in which federal forces fought the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). The African Union-brokered Pretoria agreement, signed in November 2022, established a permanent cessation of hostilities between the Ethiopian government and the TPLF.

However, the DOJ's November 3 statement describes the conflict in Lemma's case only as an armed conflict involving paramilitary groups. It does not identify those groups as the TPLF or explicitly link the intelligence transfers to the Tigray war.

Under the plea agreement, Lemma faces between 120 and 262 months in prison, subject to the court's acceptance of the agreement. His sentencing is scheduled for April 14, 2027.