Former SA Air Force general jailed in US for being a ‘secret foreign agent’

A former South African Air Force brigadier general has been sentenced to six months in a United States federal prison after pleading guilty to acting as an undeclared agent of the South African government while working at one of America’s most sensitive national security research facilities.

Portia Anyamba, 59, was sentenced on 17 June 2026 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee after admitting to 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.

In addition to the six-month prison sentence, the court ordered Anyamba to serve two years of supervised release and pay a $9 500 (R155 000) fine.

Although the conviction was confirmed in June, the case has only gained widespread attention in recent days.

Worked at former Manhattan Project laboratory

According to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Anyamba worked during 2023 and 2024 as a Programme Management Operational Specialist in the National Security Program Office at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee.

Originally established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project that developed the world’s first atomic bombs, ORNL is now one of the US Department of Energy’s premier research facilities. Its work includes energy innovation, artificial intelligence, supercomputing and national security research.

The investigation was led by the FBI’s Nashville Field Office together with the Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence.

Regular contact with South African intelligence

US prosecutors said investigators found that Anyamba had been acting in the United States “under the direction and control of the Republic of South Africa.”

Court documents state that she maintained regular contact with an intelligence officer from South Africa’s State Security Agency (SSA), identified only as “IO-1”, who served as the SSA’s Deputy Chief of Station and former Acting Chief of Station at the South African Embassy in Washington, DC.

In February 2024, FBI agents monitored a meeting involving Anyamba, the intelligence officer and another South African government official at a restaurant before the group moved to a nearby hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee.

On 7 November 2024, agents intercepted Anyamba before another planned meeting in Knoxville and seized a laptop computer she was carrying.

False statements on security clearance

While employed at ORNL, Anyamba was also applying for a US government security clearance that would have granted her access to classified information.

As part of the application process, she completed the standard SF-86 security questionnaire, certifying that she had no contact with foreign government representatives.

Prosecutors said those declarations were materially false.

Investigators also alleged that Anyamba 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: National security was at risk

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 the close cooperation between his department and the FBI in protecting sensitive government facilities.

Distinguished military career

Before relocating to the United States, Anyamba enjoyed a distinguished military career in South Africa.

Known previously as Portia Nozipho Sibiya, she left medical school to join uMkhonto weSizwe in exile before completing her studies in Nigeria in 1998.

She later 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 before retiring as a brigadier general in 2011.

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

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