KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — A former Oak Ridge National Laboratory employee has been sentenced after pleading guilty to acting as a foreign agent for South Africa.
The Department of Justice said Portia Anyamba, 59, of Knoxville, is a former brigadier general from the South African Air Force. She worked as a program management operational specialist in the national security program office at ORNL. An investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Department of Energy Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence found that she was acting under the direction and control of the Republic of South Africa.
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Anyamba was sentenced to six months behind bars followed by two years of supervised release. She has also been ordered to pay a $9,500 fine.
“Anyamba knowingly acted as an agent of a foreign country which placed national security at risk,” said Terence G. Reilly, Special Agent in Charge, Nashville Field Office. “All across the country, each and every day, the FBI and our strategic partners will continue to work together to review intelligence and investigate threats to our national security in order to protect our citizens from foreign and domestic attacks.”…