Former USAF specialist who defected to Iran was RC-135 aircrew member during Operation Iraqi Freedom

A former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence specialist who had defected to Iran severed as an airborne crypto linguist on board a RC-135 during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Military Times revealed.

RC-135 Rivet Joint in flight
U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Lance Cheung [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons


She earned the Air Medal as a result. The citation says she had “distinguished herself by meritorious achievement while participating in sustained aerial flight from March 29 to April 18.”

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