Former SA Air Force brigadier general jailed in US for acting as undeclared foreign agent

A former South African Air Force brigadier general has been sentenced to prison in the United States after admitting she acted as an undeclared agent of the South African government while employed at a sensitive US research facility.

Sentence and charges

Portia Anyamba, 59, was sentenced on 17 June 2026 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee after pleading guilty to two charges: one count of acting as an agent of the Republic of South Africa without notifying the US Attorney General, and one count of making false statements during her application for a US government security clearance.

The court ordered six months in federal prison, two years of supervised release and a $9,500 fine.

Employment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Prosecutors said Anyamba worked in 2023 and 2024 as a Programme Management Operational Specialist in the National Security Program Office at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee. ORNL, originally part of the Manhattan Project, is a US Department of Energy research facility whose work includes energy innovation, artificial intelligence, supercomputing and national security research.

Allegations of acting under direction of South African intelligence

According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee, investigators found Anyamba had been acting in the United States “under the direction and control of the Republic of South Africa.” Court documents say she maintained regular contact with an intelligence officer from South Africa’s State Security Agency identified as “IO-1,” described as the SSA’s Deputy Chief of Station and former Acting Chief of Station at the South African Embassy in Washington, DC.

FBI agents monitored a meeting in February 2024 involving Anyamba, the intelligence officer and another South African government official at a restaurant before the group moved to a hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee. On 7 November 2024, agents intercepted Anyamba before a planned meeting in Knoxville and seized a laptop she was carrying, prosecutors said.

False statements on security clearance form

While employed at ORNL, Anyamba was applying for a US government security clearance that would have allowed access to classified information. As part of that process she completed the standard SF-86 security questionnaire and certified that she had no contact with foreign government representatives; prosecutors said those declarations were materially false. Investigators also alleged she contacted people listed as references on her security clearance application, warning them about the sensitivity of her foreign connections and asking them not to mention her contacts with the South African Embassy.

US officials on national security risks

US Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III said safeguarding Oak Ridge National Laboratory remained a priority.

“Our office and our law enforcement partners will remain diligent in ensuring that its employees – and all government personnel entrusted with access to sensitive information – are trustworthy, candid, and pose no risk to national security.”

FBI Nashville Special Agent in Charge Terence G. Reilly said Anyamba “knowingly acted as an agent of a foreign country,” placing US national security at risk.

Joshua D. Martineau, Deputy Director of Counterintelligence at the Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, said the outcome highlighted cooperation between his department and the FBI in protecting sensitive government facilities.

Background and military career

Before relocating to the United States, Anyamba had a long military career in South Africa. Previously known as Portia Nozipho Sibiya, she left medical school to join uMkhonto weSizwe in exile, later completed her studies in Nigeria in 1998, integrated into the South African Air Force, rose to the rank of colonel and became the first woman to command a South African Air Force unit. She also served as South Africa’s defence attaché in France and retired as a brigadier general in 2011.

After leaving the military she adopted the surname Anyamba, completed an MBA in the United States and later joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Response

No official statement from the South African government had been issued at the time of publication.