{"id":43141,"date":"2021-06-24T08:12:19","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T15:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141"},"modified":"2021-06-24T08:13:50","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T15:13:50","slug":"linguist-sentenced-to-23-years-of-giving-classified-information-to-terrorist-organization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141","title":{"rendered":"Linguist Sentenced to 23 Years for Giving Classified Information to Terrorist Organization"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON D.C.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Linquist Mariam Taha Thompson, 62, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, was sentenced this week to 23 years in prison for delivering classified national defense information to help a foreign government.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cThere is no question in my mind that the offense conduct to which the defendant admitted endangered U.S. military personnel and human assets\u2019 work with the United States and accordingly posed a significant threat to national security,\u201d U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates said, according to the Washington Post.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

\u201cThis was an actual risk situation, not a hypothetical situation, and therefore it is extremely serious,\u201d the judge said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

With good time credit and credit for time served, Bates estimated Thompson could complete her term when she is 81, five years short of her estimated life expectancy.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

\"closeup<\/a>In a tearful plea for leniency, Thompson apologized those she endangered, saying, \u201cYour honor, I love this country, and I love our soldiers .\u2009.\u2009. I did not set out to hurt them or do damage to our national security.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

\u201cI just wanted to have someone to love me in my old age, and because I was desperate for that love I forgot who I was for a short period of time,\u201d Thompson said, asking for time to spend with her grandchildren before she dies, the Washington Post reported.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

She admitted to knowing that the information she was passing to a Lebanese national would be provided to Lebanese Hezbollah, a designated foreign terrorist organization.<\/span><\/p>\n

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 eight clandestine human assets; at least 10 U.S. targets; and multiple tactics, techniques and procedures. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"brown<\/a>\u201cThompson\u2019s sentence reflects the seriousness of her violation of the trust of the American people, of the human sources she jeopardized and of the troops who worked at her side as friends and colleagues,\u201d said Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers for the Justice Department\u2019s National Security Division. \u201cThat Thompson passed our nation\u2019s sensitive secrets to someone whom she knew had ties to Lebanese Hezbollah made her betrayal all the more serious. Thompson\u2019s sentence should stand as a clear warning to all clearance holders that violations of their oath to this country will not be taken lightly, especially when they put lives at risk.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

\u201cThis case should serve as a clear reminder to all of those entrusted with national defense information that unilaterally disclosing such information for personal gain, or that of others, is not selfless or heroic; it is criminal,\u201d said Assistant Director Alan E. Kohler, Jr. of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. \u201cBy knowingly distributing classified information that would be passed onto a designated foreign terrorist organization, Mariam Thompson put our national defense in danger. “<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>According to court documents, Thompson worked as a contract linguist at an overseas U.S. military facility where she was entrusted with a Top-Secret government security clearance. <\/span><\/p>\n

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. <\/span><\/p>\n

Over time, Thompson developed a romantic interest in her co-conspirator. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>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 Hezbollah, according to court records.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2019ib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed foreign terrorist organization. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2019ib Hezbollah, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Following Suleimani\u2019s death, the unindicted co-conspirator began asking Thompson to provide \u201cthem\u201d with information about the human assets who had helped the United States to target Suleimani. <\/span><\/p>\n

Thompson admitted that she understood \u201cthem\u201d to be Lebanese Hezbollah, including an unnamed high-ranking military commander.<\/span><\/p>\n

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. <\/span><\/p>\n

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 Hezbollah military commander wanted to meet Thompson when she came to Lebanon.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON D.C. Linquist Mariam Taha Thompson, 62, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, was sentenced this week to 23 years in prison for delivering classified national defense information to help a foreign government. \u201cThere…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nLinguist Sentenced to 23 Years for Giving Classified Information to Terrorist Organization<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"WASHINGTON D.C. Linquist Mariam Taha Thompson, 62, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, was sentenced this week to 23 years in prison for delivering\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Linguist Sentenced to 23 Years for Giving Classified Information to Terrorist Organization\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WASHINGTON D.C. Linquist Mariam Taha Thompson, 62, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, was sentenced this week to 23 years in prison for delivering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-24T15:12:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-24T15:13:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Espionage-FBI.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"333\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43141#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43141\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Linguist Sentenced to 23 Years for Giving Classified Information to Terrorist Organization\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-24T15:12:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-24T15:13:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43141\"},\"wordCount\":779,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43141#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/08\\\/Espionage-FBI.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"U.S. Department of Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43141#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43141\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43141\",\"name\":\"Linguist Sentenced to 23 Years for Giving Classified Information to Terrorist Organization\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43141#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43141#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/08\\\/Espionage-FBI.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-24T15:12:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-24T15:13:50+00:00\",\"description\":\"WASHINGTON D.C. Linquist Mariam Taha Thompson, 62, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, was sentenced this week to 23 years in prison for delivering\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43141\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=43141#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/08\\\/Espionage-FBI.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/08\\\/Espionage-FBI.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":333},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Linguist Sentenced to 23 Years for Giving Classified Information to Terrorist Organization","description":"WASHINGTON D.C. Linquist Mariam Taha Thompson, 62, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, was sentenced this week to 23 years in prison for delivering","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Linguist Sentenced to 23 Years for Giving Classified Information to Terrorist Organization","og_description":"WASHINGTON D.C. Linquist Mariam Taha Thompson, 62, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, was sentenced this week to 23 years in prison for delivering","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2021-06-24T15:12:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-06-24T15:13:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":333,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Espionage-FBI.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Linguist Sentenced to 23 Years for Giving Classified Information to Terrorist Organization","datePublished":"2021-06-24T15:12:19+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-24T15:13:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141"},"wordCount":779,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Espionage-FBI.jpg","articleSection":["U.S. Department of Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141","name":"Linguist Sentenced to 23 Years for Giving Classified Information to Terrorist Organization","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Espionage-FBI.jpg","datePublished":"2021-06-24T15:12:19+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-24T15:13:50+00:00","description":"WASHINGTON D.C. Linquist Mariam Taha Thompson, 62, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, was sentenced this week to 23 years in prison for delivering","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=43141#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Espionage-FBI.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Espionage-FBI.jpg","width":500,"height":333},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43141"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43143,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43141\/revisions\/43143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}