A former Army employee with a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information clearance was arrested and charged with leaking classified national defense information to a journalist, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday in a statement.
A federal grand jury today charged Courtney Williams, 40, of Wagram, North Carolina, on a charge of willful transmission of national defense information, a violation of the Espionage Act. She was arrested on Tuesday and the FBI Charlotte Field Office is investigating the case.
From 2010 to 2016, Williams worked as an operational support specialist assigned to a Special Military Unit at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the statement said, and she had daily access to classified information.
Between 2022 and 2025, Williams is alleged to have repeatedly communicated with a journalist who identified themselves as such and said they were seeking information about the unit for an article and book. The journalist then published statements naming Williams as a source, attributing classified information to her statements.
Williams also shared national defense information on her social media accounts, the department said.
In messages between Williams and the journalist, Williams confided that she was “concerned about the amount of classified information being disclosed.” In another message to a different person, Williams admitted that she could be arrested for her classified disclosures.
The journalist was not named by the department, but in 2025 a reporter named Seth Harp published an article and a book detailing sexism, racism and cultural issues in one of the Army’s most elite units.
In his reporting, Harp features the experience of a woman named Courtney Williams who worked for Delta Force at Fort Bragg beginning in 2010.
“This indictment should serve as a stark warning to all current and former clearance holders thinking of violating their positions of trust,” said Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, adding “if you jeopardize our national security by disclosing classified information without authorization, the FBI will hold you accountable for your crimes.”
If convicted, Williams could face time in prison.
Eve Sampson is a reporter and former Army officer. She has covered conflict across the world, writing for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.
