FBI Director Kash Patel announced the arrest Wednesday of a former employee of the United States Special Operations Command, known as SOCOM, for leaking classified material to a journalist.
The announcement came just 48 hours after President Donald Trump promised that identifying a leaker in another recent case involving the Air Force pilot rescue operation in Iran over Easter weekend would be a top priority.
Patel posted on social media, “FBI and our partners have arrested a former SOCOM employee, who supported our top-level military warfighters, for allegedly transmitting classified information to a member of the media.”
“Let this serve as a message to any would-be leakers: we’re working these cases, and we’re making arrests. This FBI will not tolerate those who seek to betray our country and put Americans in harm’s way,” he added.
🚨🚨 FBI and our partners have arrested a former SOCOM employee, who supported our top-level military warfighters, for allegedly transmitting classified information to a member of the media.
Outstanding work by @FBICharlotte and the FBI Counterintelligence & Espionage Division…
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) April 8, 2026
In a news release, the DOJ said, “The FBI arrested Courtney Williams, 40, of Wagram, North Carolina, yesterday and a federal grand jury indicted her today in connection with her alleged transmission of classified national defense information to individuals not authorized to receive it, including a journalist.”
The news release said, “As alleged, between 2022 and 2025, Williams repeatedly communicated with the Journalist via telephone and text messages. During this period, Williams and the Journalist had over 10 hours of telephone calls and exchanged more than 180 messages.”
“In one such message, the Journalist identified themselves as a journalist and stated that they sought information about the SMU [Special Military Unit] in support of an upcoming article and book. After these communications with Williams, the Journalist published a book and article that named Williams as a source and attributed specific statements to her. Some of these statements contained classified national defense information. In addition to her disclosures to the Journalist, Williams also made unauthorized disclosures of national defense information via her social media accounts.”
CASE UPDATE from @FBICharlotte: Former Army Employee and Top Secret Clearance Holder Arrested and Charged with Leaking Classified National Defense Information
Learn more: https://t.co/2yy0urQFEq pic.twitter.com/03UImztQdm
— FBI (@FBI) April 8, 2026
Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division said, “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.”
Trump issued a similar warning Monday when he told reporters that someone had leaked to a journalist that one of two U.S. Air Force officers shot down in Iran had been rescued, and the search was on for the second one.
“When they did that, the entire country of Iran knew that there was a pilot that was somewhere on their land that was fighting for his life,” and the rescue mission became a “much more difficult operation” for those going in to search for the missing officer, the president explained.
Trump says there was a leaker regarding the rescue mission in Iran: “We’re going to go to the media company that released it and we’re going to say ‘National security. Give it up or go to jail.’” pic.twitter.com/l2YnIQxi4V
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 6, 2026
“The country, Iran, put out a major note, as you all saw it, offering a very big award for anybody that captures the pilot,” he said. “So in addition to a hostile, very talented, very good, very evil military, we had millions of people trying to get an award.”
“We have to find that leaker, because that’s a sick person,” Trump stated. “They put that man at great risk, and they put the hundreds of people that went in [at risk, too].”
He promised, “We’re going to go to the media company that released it, and we’re going to say, ‘national security, give it up or go to jail.’”
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