FBI Offers $200,000 Reward for Ex-Air Force Agent Monica Witt Charged with Espionage for Iran

The FBI is offering a $200,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of former U.S. Air Force special agent and counterintelligence specialist Monica Witt. She faces espionage charges from 2019 over accusations that she shared highly classified U.S. intelligence with Iran.

The FBI said Thursday it still seeks to locate Witt, who defected to Iran in 2013.

"The FBI has not forgotten and believes that during this critical moment in Iran's history, there is someone who knows something about her whereabouts," said Daniel Wierzbicki, special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office's Counterintelligence and Cyber Division. "The FBI wants to hear from you so you can help us apprehend Witt and bring her to justice."

Prosecutors alleged in February 2019 that Witt shared information about a classified Defense Department program with the Iranian government. She also assisted Tehran's intelligence services in targeting her former colleagues in the U.S. government, authorities said. Witt worked with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the elite military force tasked with expanding Tehran's influence globally.

Witt entered the Air Force in 1997 and left in 2008, according to the Justice Department. She worked as a Defense Department contractor until 2010.

Prosecutors said Witt traveled to Iran in 2012 to attend a conference that criticized American moral standards and promoted anti-U.S. propaganda. She returned the following year and received housing and computer equipment from Iranian officials. Authorities allege she later worked on behalf of Tehran by sharing classified information and gathering intelligence on former U.S. intelligence colleagues.

The same 2019 indictment charged four Iranians for conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors accused them of helping Witt gather information on her former U.S. government colleagues.