NEW YORK (AP) – A former Arabic translator for the Army in Iraq – since labeled a security risk by federal authorities – pleaded guilty on Tuesday to using a false identity while becoming a U.S. citizen.

Noureddine Malki, 46, faces up to six months in prison followed by deportation. No sentencing date was set.

Outside court, defense attorney Mildred Whalen denied her client was a threat to national security.

“He seems like a nice guy who wanted to help his country,” the lawyer said. “Any allegation that he’s a security risk has been blown out of proportion.”

Though Malki was never charged with more serious crimes, federal investigators allege he had more than 100 conversations this year with people directly involved with the Iraqi insurgency. They also claim classified documents about combating the insurgency were found in his New York apartment.

Using the name Almaliki Nour, Malki became a U.S. citizen in 2000 and three years later went to work for a defense contractor as a translator and interpreter for an intelligence unit of the 82nd Airborne Division, according to lawyers in the case and an FBI complaint.

As he worked in Iraq, the FBI and Department of Defense discovered that he had fabricated his name, birth date, native country and family background as the persecuted son of a Muslim father and Catholic mother, the complaint said.

Nour later told the FBI he is a Moroccan named Noureddine Malki, according to the complaint.

Copy the Story Link