A former CIA analyst was sentenced Wednesday to three years and one month in prison for leaking classified documents that revealed Israeli military preparations for strikes against Iran.

Asif W. Rahman, 34, pleaded guilty to two counts under the Espionage Act after admitting he leaked more than a dozen classified documents while stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia. The most damaging breach involved two top-secret records from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency that detailed Israeli aviation exercises and munition movements consistent with strike preparations.

The leaked documents surfaced in mid-October on a Telegram channel called “Middle East Spectator” and quickly spread across social media platforms. At the time, Iran had just launched nearly 200 missiles at Israel in retaliation for the killings of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, and the Biden administration was actively lobbying Israel to avoid targeting Iranian nuclear sites or energy facilities in any response.

Although the documents contained no images, they did provide detailed intelligence assessments, including references to Israel’s nuclear capabilities, which have never been officially acknowledged. According to U.S. officials, the leak had immediate operational consequences, forcing Israel to delay its planned retaliatory attack.

FBI investigators traced the document downloads to Rahman’s workstation at the embassy, leading to his arrest in Cambodia last November. Rahman was subsequently brought to the U.S. territory of Guam to face charges.

“I don’t think the severity, the seriousness, of the conduct can be overstated,” U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles said during sentencing. “Our intelligence community has a responsibility of keeping our nation safe, and when things are done to compromise that in any way, it puts us all in danger.”

Rahman’s background made his fall from grace particularly striking. A high school valedictorian who graduated from Yale University with honors in just three years, he had left a lucrative finance career to join the CIA.

Federal prosecutors had initially sought a nine-year sentence, describing Rahman as “a sophisticated intelligence professional” who systematically stole classified information over months while skillfully covering his digital tracks.

However, Rahman’s sentence was reduced to three years after his defense team argued personal struggles had clouded his judgment, including trauma from a posting in Baghdad and his wife’s miscarriage just before their planned move to Cambodia. In a letter to the court, Rahman expressed regret about the consequences of his actions.

“It is hard to see now how I could have seen this then, but when I committed my offenses I thought they would help protect Americans and American interests. Now, I face the harsh reality that they did the opposite, and I worry constantly that Americans, particularly members of the military serving in the Middle East, will suffer harm as a result,” he wrote.

Israel ultimately carried out its retaliatory strikes against Iran in late October, targeting military sites in several regions. The extent to which the leaked intelligence affected the timing or scope of those operations remains unclear.