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A former brigadier-general in the South African Air Force has been sentenced to six months in prison in the US after pleading guilty to acting as an agent of the South African government and making false statements during a US security clearance application.The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee said Portia Anyamba, 59, was sentenced on June 17 by US District judge Thomas A Varlan in Knoxville, Tennessee. In addition to the prison term, she was sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $9,500 fine.According to court documents, Anyamba pleaded guilty to one count of acting as an agent of the Republic of South Africa without notifying the US attorney-general, in violation of US federal law, and one count of making false statements in connection with her security clearance application.US authorities said an investigation by the FBI Nashville Field Office and the US department of energy’s office of intelligence and counterintelligence found that Anyamba was acting in the US under the direction and control of the South African government while seeking access to sensitive US government information.Court documents state that in 2023 and 2024, Anyamba worked as a programme management operational specialist in the National Security Program Office at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The laboratory, established during the Manhattan Project, is a US department of energy facility involved in energy research, innovation and national security.Investigators said Anyamba maintained regular contact with an intelligence officer from South Africa’s State Security Agency (SSA), identified in court documents only as “IO-1”. The individual was described as the SSA’s then-deputy chief of station and former acting chief of station at the South African embassy in Washington, DC.According to prosecutors, the pair met in Knoxville in February 2024 after arranging the meeting through electronic communications. FBI agents conducting surveillance observed Anyamba meeting IO-1 and another individual believed to be affiliated with the South African government before the group relocated from a restaurant to a nearby hotel.Authorities said the pair later arranged another meeting in November 2024. Before the meeting, IO-1 instructed Anyamba to “Please remember to also bring the laptop with!” FBI agents intercepted Anyamba before the meeting in Knoxville’s Turkey Creek shopping district and seized a laptop computer from her possession.At the same time, prosecutors said Anyamba was applying for a US government security clearance that would have given her access to classified information.As part of that process, she completed the Standard Form 86 security questionnaire, in which applicants are warned that providing false information may result in criminal prosecution.Court documents state that Anyamba falsely declared she had no continuing contact with foreign nationals and had not been in contact with representatives of a foreign government during the previous seven years.Prosecutors also alleged that she contacted individuals listed as references for her security clearance application and instructed them not to disclose her links to the South African embassy, telling them: “I have just gotten information that they have started with the interviews. They are sensitive about foreign connections. So please don’t mention anything about the embassy.”US attorney Francis M Hamilton III said the case demonstrates the importance of protecting sensitive government facilities and ensuring employees entrusted with classified information are trustworthy.FBI Nashville special agent in charge Terence Reilly said Anyamba knowingly acted as an agent of a foreign government, placing US national security at risk.The case was prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee with assistance from the US department of justice’s national security division.
