FBI Arrests Ex-Army Veteran Accused of Leaking Top-Secret Defense Information to Journalist

Overview

• Courtney Williams was taken into custody in North Carolina after a grand jury charged her under the Espionage Act’s Section 793(d), with the FBI’s Charlotte office leading the case and North Carolina federal prosecutors working with the DOJ National Security Division.
• From 2010 to 2016 she served in a Special Military Unit with Top Secret/SCI clearance, signed secrecy agreements, and completed training on how to protect and store classified material.
• Investigators say that between 2022 and 2025 she exchanged more than 10 hours of calls and at least 180 texts with a journalist, and that an article and a book later cited her as a source.
• The FBI says she also posted national defense information on social media and, in messages to others, said she knew she could be arrested for sharing classified details.
• Court filings describe an initial court appearance and a request to keep her in custody before trial, and the single count carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison.