CI Press, Episode 55: Traitor in the Ranks: The Monica Witt Espionage Case

In this episode, hosts Jeremy Clark, Scott Sparks, and Joseph Sheridan discuss the Monica Witt spy case.  In the shadowy world of counterintelligence, few stories rival the jaw-dropping betrayal of Monica Elfriede Witt. Once a member of the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI), this Texas-born Farsi-speaking specialist served from 1997 to 2008, deploying on classified missions across the Middle East and gaining top-secret access to the identities of U.S. agents and sources.

After leaving the military, she continued as a defense contractor until 2010, consulting on Iranian matters for firms like Booz Allen Hamilton.  But in 2012, Witt's path took a radical turn. She traveled to Iran for the IRGC-sponsored "Hollywoodism" conference – a hotbed of anti-American propaganda – where she converted to Islam and began praising the regime.  Despite an FBI warning that Iranian intelligence was targeting her for recruitment, she defected in August 2013, fleeing to Tehran and vowing to "put [her] training to good use instead of evil."

From there, the allegations explode: Witt allegedly handed over the code name and details of a highly classified U.S. intelligence program, exposed the true identity of a fellow agent (endangering lives), and compiled dossiers on at least eight former colleagues to aid Iranian hackers in spear-phishing attacks via Facebook and email.  Four Iranian operatives were indicted alongside her for the cyber plot, which aimed to implant malware on American systems.

Was it ideology, resentment from her military exit, or something deeper? Join us as we unpack this real-life spy thriller, the U.S. sanctions on Iranian fronts like the New Horizon Organization, and what her case reveals about the vulnerabilities in our intelligence community. Tune in – you won't believe the twists.