The FBI on Thursday said it is offering a $200,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension and prosecution of Monica Witt, a former U.S. Air Force intelligence specialist and special agent who was indicted in 2019 on espionage charges. Witt, 47, remains at large, and the bureau said it is continuing to actively work to find her and bring her to justice.
Witt was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia in February 2019 on charges that include transmitting national defense information to the Iranian government. Officials allege she defected to Iran in 2013 and provided information that put sensitive and classified U.S. national defense information and programs at risk. The FBI said her military service from 1997 to 2008, along with work as a U.S. government contractor until 2010, gave her access to secret and top secret information involving foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, including the true names of undercover U.S. Intelligence Community personnel.
That access is what makes the case so serious. The bureau says Witt intentionally provided information that endangered U.S. personnel and their families stationed abroad and conducted research on behalf of the Iranian regime so it could target her former colleagues in the U.S. government. The FBI also said her defection to Iran has benefitted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Daniel Wierzbicki, speaking for the FBI, said, “Monica Witt allegedly betrayed her oath to the Constitution more than a decade ago by defecting to Iran and providing the Iranian regime National Defense Information and likely continues to support their nefarious activities.” He added, “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.”
The bureau says Witt is known to speak Farsi and resides in Iran, though it also believes she may be using aliases, including Fatemah Zahra or Narges Witt. That detail has made the hunt harder, but the reward announcement suggests the FBI is still trying to turn up a fresh lead from inside the network that may know where she is. “The FBI wants to hear from you so you can help us apprehend Witt and bring her to justice,” Wierzbicki said.
The timing matters because the case has not gone away. Witt was charged years ago, but Thursday’s reward shows the government is treating her as a continuing counterintelligence threat, not a closed file. For U.S. officials, the question now is whether someone with knowledge of her life in Iran will come forward and break the case open.
