A former U.S. Army employee was charged on Wednesday with leaking classified information to a journalist who published some of her disclosures in a book and article, federal prosecutors said.
The employee, Courtney Williams, 40, worked in a support role for the Special Operations unit Delta Force at Fort Bragg in North Carolina from 2010 to 2016, the Justice Department said. In a book and article published by a journalist last year, she described experiencing sexual harassment and gender discrimination during her time there.
The F.B.I. arrested her on Tuesday and she was indicted by a grand jury the following day on a charge of “alleged transmission of classified national defense information” to a journalist, the department said in a statement.
She faces a punishment of up to 10 years in prison.
Ms. Williams held top secret security clearance while working for the Army, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court. Between 2022 and 2025, after she had left the Army, she communicated with a journalist who published an article and book that included experiences from her time working with the military, including classified information, according to prosecutors, who did not name the journalist.
Ms. Williams was featured prominently in a Politico Magazine article by Seth Harp published last August that detailed alleged misconduct in Delta Force. The article was adapted from Mr. Harp’s book, “The Fort Bragg Cartel,” which was published the same month and examined unsolved murders and other problems at the military base.
The criminal complaint details phone calls and text messages that Ms. Williams exchanged with the journalist and states that she “revealed classified national defense information.” She also mailed documents, photographs, notes and other materials to the journalist that likely contained classified information on a thumb drive, the complaint said.
In the article, Ms. Williams was quoted as speaking about sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the unit, describing some of her time there as a “living hell.” In one instance, she said she was asked to undergo a dress code check and was told to turn around and bend over in front of senior officers to “to assess whether her underwear could be seen through the fabric.”
In announcing the charges against Ms. Williams, federal officials described her behavior as putting the United States and its soldiers at risk, and suggested that she revealed “tradecraft, tactics and techniques” used by Delta Force, without providing further details.
The F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, congratulated his colleagues on the arrest of Ms. Williams in a social media post on Wednesday.
“Let this serve as a message to any would-be leakers: We’re working these cases, and we’re making arrests,” he wrote. “This F.B.I. will not tolerate those who seek to betray our country and put Americans in harm’s way.”
Mr. Harp, the journalist, strongly condemned the charges in a statement on social media. He called Ms. Williams a “courageous whistle-blower” who helped expose “rampant gender discrimination and sexual harassment” in Delta Force.
He accused the Justice Department of prosecuting Ms. Williams to retaliate against her for her critical comments about the unit, adding that officials had not detailed what specific classified national defense information she had leaked.
Ms. Williams was appointed a federal public defender, according to court documents, which did not include a lawyer’s name.
The Justice Department and Mr. Harp did not immediately respond to requests for comment early Thursday.
Ms. Williams was being detained until a preliminary hearing set for April 13, according to court documents.
Jonathan Wolfe is a Times reporter based in London, covering breaking news.
The post F.B.I. Arrests Ex-Army Employee Who Detailed Harassment to Journalist appeared first on New York Times.
