内容摘要："What Israel is doing right now is the worst thing, not only for Palestinians, but for Israelis and Jews. It will forever be this horrible stain."

"What Israel is doing right now is the worst thing, not only for Palestinians, but for Israelis and Jews. It will forever be this horrible stain."

Asif William Rahman, 34, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defence information under the Espionage Act.Authorities say that, using his high-level security clearance, Rahman printed, photographed and sent out top secret documents. They later ended up being circulated on social media.

Israel carried out air strikes on Iran last October, targeting military sites in several regions, in response to the barrage of missiles launched by Tehran weeks earlier."For months, this defendant betrayed the American people and the oaths he took upon entering his office by leaking some of our Nation's most closely held secrets," John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a press release.In October 2024, documents appearing to be from a Department of Defense agency were published on an Iranian-aligned Telegram account.

The documents, bearing a top-secret mark, were viewable between the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, made up of the US, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.The leaked documents are also said to have contained the US' assessment of Israeli plans ahead of the strike on Iran and the movements of military assets in preparation.

One referred to Israel's nuclear capabilities, which have never been officially acknowledged.

When asked about the leak, former President Joe Biden said he was "deeply concerned"."These Earth Observation programmes are our canary in the coal mine," he told BBC News.

"Our ability to predict the impact of climate change and mitigate against it could be drastically reduced. If we turn off this early warning system it is a frightening prospect."The budget proposals have yet to be approved by Congress. The Planetary Society's Casey Dreier has told BBC News that many Republicans have told lobbyists privately that they are prepared to vote against the cuts.

But, Mr Dreier worries that there is a strong possibility that political gridlock might mean that no budget is agreed.It is likely that the reduced White House budget would be put in place as an interim measure, which then could not easily be reversed, because once space missions are turned off it is hard, if not impossible, to start them up again.