The FBI launched a months-long investigation of a veteran U.S. diplomat after intercepting her communication with a Pakistan official that suggested she provided the foreign government with secrets, according to multiple reports.
U.S. officials told The New York Times and The Washington Post that the bureau had been monitoring Robin L. Raphel for months. Officials obtained a warrant to search her home and her office at the State Department.
{mosads}Classified information that Raphel took home from the State Department was found at her home, the reports said.
It’s unclear what was discussed during her exchange with the Pakistani official and it’s unknown whether the conversation occurred by telephone, email or another form of communication, reports said.
Raphel has not been charged with a crime, but she has hired Amy Jeffress, who was recently a top national security prosecutor at the Justice Department.
Raphel, a former ambassador and assistant secretary of State, retired from the U.S. government in 2005. Afterward, she lobbied for the Pakistani government before she accepted a position back at the State Department to advise Richard Holbrooke. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed Holbrooke to be special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In 1988, Raphel’s former husband, Arnold Raphel, was killed in a mysterious plane crash with Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq. Her husband was the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan at the time.
The cause of the crash was never determined.