A 40-year-old North Carolina woman was indicted on charges that she leaked classified defense information to a journalist, the Justice Department said.
From 2010-2016, Courtney Williams worked for a special military unit and held a top secret/sensitive compartmented information security clearance, the Justice Department said.
Between 2022 and 2025, Williams repeatedly communicated with a journalist via telephone and text messages, with over 10 hours of telephone calls and more than 180 messages, the Justice Department said.
The journalist, Seth Harp, later published a book and article that named Williams as a source and attributed specific statements to her, the Justice Department said.
On the day the article and book were published, Williams wrote to the journalist and said that she was "concerned about the amount of classified information being disclosed."
In another message, Williams said, "I might actually get arrested ... for disclosing classified information."
Williams wrote in another message that she knew she could face legal consequences for her disclosures to the journalist, the Justice Department said.
"I have known my entire career," Williams said. "They tell you every day ... 100 times a day."
Williams told another person that she knew she would be going to jail for the rest of her life, the Justice Department said.
While working for the special military unit, Williams signed a classified nondisclosure agreement which confirmed her understanding that the unauthorized disclosure of classified information could constitute a criminal offense, the Justice Department said.
In her role, Williams had daily access to a broad range of classified information, the Justice Department said.
"Courtney Williams swore an oath to safeguard our nation's secrets as an employee supporting a special military unit of the Army, but she allegedly betrayed that oath by sharing classified information with a media outlet and putting our nation, our warfighters, and our allies at risk," said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division.
"This indictment should serve as a stark warning to all current and former clearance holders thinking of violating their positions of trust. If you jeopardize our national security by disclosing classified information without authorization, the FBI will hold you accountable for your crimes," Rozhavsky added.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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