State Dept IT contractor charged with espionage, allegedly sent classified information to Ethiopia

Washington — A State Department IT contractor was charged with espionage after investigators alleged he sent classified documents from sensitive federal systems to foreign government contacts — and likely gave those contacts access to his U.S. government account, the Justice Department announced Thursday.  

Abraham Teklu Lemma — described by officials as a naturalized U.S. citizen of Ethiopian descent with a top-secret security clearance — was allegedly working for and accessing sensitive U.S. government records at the bidding of Ethiopia since at least last summer, two sources familiar with the investigation confirmed to CBS News. 

According to court documents, Lemma is accused of illegally accessing numerous intelligence reports that were mostly related to a single country and using his credentials to print or download secret and top secret classified records from those reports onto discs.