Blinking Red: National Security Threats Persist as Arrests Made in Virginia, NC, Florida

(The Center Square)—As Islamic terror incidents and national security threats increased under the Biden administration, major arrests, indictments and guilty pleas were recently announced in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida.

In Vienna, Virginia, 34-year-old former CIA analyst Asif William Rahman pleaded guilty Friday to retaining and transmitting “Top Secret National Defense Information,” including removing classified documents, photographing them, transmitting them, and destroying devices, according to a federal complaint. IHe was indicted by a grand jury and arrested last November. He remains in federal custody and faces 10 years in prison for both counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information related to national defense.

Classified documents he shared appeared on social media platforms detailing a U.S. foreign ally’s planned actions against a foreign adversary, the complaint states.

Raham, who had a Top-Secret security clearance with access to sensitive compartmented information, also “deleted and edited journal entries and written work product on his personal electronic devices to conceal his personal opinions on U.S. policy and drafted entries to construct a false narrative regarding his activity,” investigators said. He also admitted to destroying multiple electronic devices, including a personal cell phone and internet router he used to transmit classified information and photographs of classified documents. He also admitted to discarding them in public trash receptacles to avoid being caught.

For roughly six months last year, Rahman repeatedly accessed and printed classified national defense information, took them to his residence, reproduced them, altered them and communicated top secret information from his job to multiple people, the complaint states.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Jessica Aber said, “Rahman’s actions placed lives at risk, undermined U.S. foreign relations, and compromised our ability to collect vital intelligence in the future.”

On Thursday, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina Michael Easley Jr. announced a criminal complaint against a 29-year-old Durham, North Carolina, resident was unsealed for his plan to join ISIS and engage in acts of terrorism.

Alexander Justin White was arrested prior to boarding a flight to Morocco to join ISIS. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

From May to October last year, under the name “Sulaiman Al-Amriki,” he allegedly made multiple social media posts supporting ISIS, including posting ISIS recruitment and fundraising videos. He was also involved in financial transactions with refugee camps known to be fronts to funnel money to ISIS members, according to the complaint.

His alleged goal was to join ISIS and become “a mujahideen,” a martyr, to fight “jihad,” Islamic holy war, according to the complaint. When making travel plans, he made it “appear as nothing more than a vacation when he in fact claimed that he would rather die than return to the United States,” the complaint states.

“We work closely with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force to shut down suspected terrorist activities in the United States, including American citizens willing to commit violence against our troops,” Easley said.

The investigation involved the FBI’s Raleigh-based Joint Terrorism Task Force, including multiple local and state law enforcement agencies. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service and Morocco General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance were involved.

In Orlando, Florida, 44-year-old Jordanian Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen recently pleaded guilty to four counts of threatening to use explosives and one count of destruction of an energy facility. In convicted, he faces decades in prison.

According to court documents, beginning last June, a masked man began targeting and attacking Orlando-area businesses because of their perceived support for Israel. “Warning letters” to the federal government were left, including political demands and threats to “destroy or explode everything here in whole America. Especially the companies and factories that support the racist state of Israel,” according to the complaint.

Next, a solar power generation facility in Wedgefield, Florida, was destroyed. Solar panels were smashed, wires were cut, critical electronic equipment damaged, and threatening demand letters were also left. Another warning letter threatening to “destroy or explode everything” was found at an industrial propane gas distribution depot in Orlando.

A multi-agency law enforcement effort then identified Hnaihen, which led to his arrest in July. He pleaded guilty in December.

The announcements come as the FBI and Department of Homeland Security recently warned of likely terrorist attacks, The Center Square reported.