On Friday, the US Department of Justice announced that former Pentagon interpreter Mary Thompson pleaded guilty to transmitting classified defense information to the Lebanese “Hezbollah”.
According to a court document, Maryam Taha Thompson (now 63 years old) began sending information after the killing of Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Quds Force, in a US air strike in January 2020.
Thompson, who had a security clearance allowing access to top-secret information, was stationed at a Special Operations Force facility in Iraq from mid-December 2019 until her arrest in February 2020.
Years before the transfer of classified information began, Thompson got acquainted with a Lebanese citizen through social media with advice from a family member. The man claimed that he had a “relative” who worked for the Lebanese Ministry of Interior, and also had contacts with members of “Hezbollah.”
Although Thompson never met the man in person, he expressed his desire to marry her and move her to Lebanon, according to the court document.
After Soleimani was killed, the man began asking Thompson to “provide” them with information about the human assets that had helped the United States target the Iranian leader, and Thompson was aware that “them” means “Hezbollah.”
Thompson feared that if she refused to pass the information, her relationship with the Lebanese citizen would “end” and “he would not marry her.”
American justice said that Thompson provided the man with information on “the identities of at least 10 secret human assets, and at least 20 American facilities, in addition to multiple tactics, techniques and procedures.”
On the other hand, the man told her that “the information she provided had the satisfaction of those concerned,” and that after her arrival in Lebanon, he would present it to a military commander in Hezbollah.
After pleading guilty to a charge related to providing national defense information to a foreign government, Thompson faces up to life in prison. The verdict is scheduled to be pronounced on June 23.
Source: American media
