Ex-Aussie govt employee in US spy scandal

After working for the Australian government, Iraqi-born Khadhraa Glenn moved to the US and became a US army cryptologist.

A former Australian government employee who worked as a US army cryptologist and was caught up in a military spying scandal has avoided a lengthy jail sentence in Florida.

Khadhraa Glenn, 28, was sentenced to five months' jail in the US District Court in West Palm Beach on Tuesday.

When Glenn was arrested in March with her husband Christopher Glenn prosecutors were not sure how involved she was in the spying allegations.

Her husband, a US citizen, worked as a computer network system administrator and contractor at the Joint Task Force Bravo military unit at the Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras.

He held a secret security clearance and allegedly stole and copied classified military documents, including details about the security of US personnel in Iraq and information on Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain.

He has entered a not guilty plea and faces a trial.

Authorities do not believe he disseminated the secret documents.

Prosecutors elected not to pursue charges related to the spying against his wife, but accused her of immigration fraud.

She entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit naturalisation fraud.

Glenn and her husband were accused of using fake documents, including a phoney Jordanian apartment lease agreement, so she could become a US citizen.

The lease was created in an attempt to prove Glenn's husband had divorced a former wife who lived in Jordan.

Judge Kenneth Marra agreed with the prosecution recommendation to sentence Glenn to the five months' jail she had already served.

She faced more than 10 years' prison.

Glenn was born in Iraq, but her family fled to Jordan as refugees and then immigrated to Australia, where she became a citizen and worked for the federal government.

She also worked as a US Army cryptologist from February 2013 to just prior to her arrest in March.


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