Former South African Air Force general jailed in US for acting as foreign agent
via The Namibian5 min read
Portia Anyamba, a former South African Air Force brigadier general, has been sentenced to six months in jail in the United States for acting as a foreign agent and providing false information during a security clearance application. Anyamba, 59, pleaded guilty to these charges, which included making false statements about her contact with foreign government representatives. She had been working at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, described as the US's largest science and energy laboratory. The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee stated that Anyamba, while seeking a US government security clearance, was in regular contact with an intelligence officer from South Africa's State Security Agency SSA. FBI agents observed Anyamba meeting with this individual, identified in court documents as OI-1, who was also affiliated with the South African Embassy in Washington. During an interception by FBI personnel, a laptop computer was retrieved from Anyamba prior to a planned meeting with OI-1. The FBI's Special Agent in Charge of the Nashville Field Office, Terence Reilly, commented that Anyamba's actions as an agent for South Africa "placed national security at risk." Anyamba was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and fined $9,500. The case has been reported in the US but has not yet featured prominently in South African news.
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This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by The Namibian.
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